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Homes England revamps land disposal process in effort to support SMEs
The government’s housing delivery agency is changing the way it selects partners for the disposal of land in a bid to benefit small and medium-sized enterprises and new entrants.
Homes England will replace the current Delivery Partner Panel (DPP3) with a new dynamic purchasing system (DPS) from July 2021.
It said the DPS will increase flexibility and introduce a new, more proportionate approach to ensuring partners’ ability to deliver homes on sites.
The DPS will open for the first round of applications from April 2021 and house builders will be given the option to apply to join the DPS at any time as Homes England or other public landowners’ sites come to market.
This approach signals a move away from the current DPP approach, whereby house builders were given one opportunity to join when the panel was renewed.
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The DPS will be available to help other public sector bodies such as local authorities, as well as housing associations, procure a house builder or a contractor to build homes on their land.
Different categories of membership will be introduced, with small and medium-sized businesses bidding to deliver smaller sites needing to satisfy simpler entry criteria compared to developers bidding to deliver larger strategic sites.
Larger developers will be expected to demonstrate leadership around issues such as design, building safety and improving equality and diversity in the industry.
House builders will be able to express interest in specific locations or types of development to enable Homes England to more effectively market sites.
Members of the DPS will be able to apply to new categories and amend their membership, meaning SMEs can take on bigger schemes as they grow.
Housing minister Christopher Pincher said: “We are helping more SME and new developers to get into the housebuilding market, and the measures announced today will make it easier for them to work in partnership with Homes England – unlocking homeownership for more families across the country.
“This complements our recent work to simplify the outdated planning system through our planning reform proposals, making it easier and cheaper for small developers to build the homes we need.”
Nick Walkley, chief executive of Homes England, said: “Whilst a government procurement framework may not sound like exciting news, our new DPS and land-led approach really does modernise how we invite bids for public land. I hope our partners can see that we’ve actively listened to their feedback and acted on it.
“Our new DPS, with its new flexibilities, new membership criteria and more effective approach to marketing sites, will benefit our partners in the public sector and the housebuilding sector, particularly new entrants and SMEs.”
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