Out-Law News 1 min. read
17 Sep 2012, 4:45 pm
The £570 million government fund is aimed at bringing forward the delivery of 16,000 new homes. In the second round of the programme HCA is hoping to provide funding to enable 7,000 of those properties to be finished. The programme helps housebuilders by providing access to financial support on stalled schemes that have been granted planning permission.
The HCA said it received 162 expressions of interest in the second round of bids, which was opened up to schemes of 15 homes and above. The projects on the shortlist include Kaleidoscope, a 129-home scheme in Cambridge by Crest Nicholson; Oceanique, a 413-home scheme in Plymouth by Ritz Investments Limited; Britannia Music, a 336-home development in Redbridge by Durkan Estates Limited; and Ruskin Square, a 167-home scheme in Croydon by Croydon Gateway.
"The Get Britain Building programme is offering housebuilders the financial support to get stalled developments back on track, and I'm pleased that more than 100 projects can move forward to the due diligence phase," said HCA chief executive, Pat Ritchie.
The Government lowered the threshold for eligible developments to 15 homes for the second round of the programme. Under the first round, which was announced in December 2011, developers could only apply if a scheme had plans for 25 homes or more.
"We listened to feedback from the sector and reduced the minimum scheme size to 15, and I'm therefore especially pleased that 20 smaller projects have come forward and the majority of bidders are SMEs," said Ritchie.
"These projects must now prove that they can be delivered quickly, provide value for money for the taxpayer and fit with local priorities. As well as building much-needed new homes, the work will create or protect jobs, and boost local economies," he said.
The first round of the scheme has delivered around £300m of recoverable investment to more than 130 projects, which must be completed by December 2014. It is expected that the funding will help housebuilders deliver up to 9,000 homes.
The shortlisted schemes for the second round will now be invited to enter a due diligence process before signing contracts for funding. The schemes will have until March 2015 to complete.
