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Four housing associations launch development joint venture
Four housing associations have formed a joint venture which aims to start building 2,000 homes in the Cambridge and Peterborough Combined Authority area over the next five years, Inside Housing can reveal.
Hyde, Flagship, Longhurst and Cross Keys Homes, which together own one in three housing association units in the area, have pitched together to create Evera Homes.
The limited liability partnership company – which represents the first time the four associations have come together – has been established and registered, with official launch set for 12 September.
It will focus on developing large sites, with an emphasis on “innovative” means of delivery using community land trusts, small and medium-sized builders and modern methods of construction.
The homes delivered will be a mixture of tenures, including for market sale and affordable rent products. Evera Homes said it will “maximise the delivery of affordable housing”, but a specific proportion has not yet been set.
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Claire Higgins, chief executive of Cross Keys Homes and chair of Evera Homes, said: “This new partnership is really in response to the huge need for housing we’ve got in the area.
“It is a way to pool our resources in a collaborative way and deliver more, faster while remaining independent organisations.
“We strongly believe that by joining together we can achieve much more. We want to do things differently while building at scale and pace.”
Each of the four organisations involved will be equal partners, having put in the same level of resources to establish the company. There is scope to expand the partnership to include other housing associations in future.
Ms Higgins said Evera Homes will allow Cross Keys Homes to take on sites that it would normally consider too large, while the association will continue to develop smaller and Section 106 sites in the area.
Once homes for rent have been completed by Evera Homes, they will be transferred to one of the four participating housing associations based on which has the largest concentration of stock in the vicinity.
