National Grid and Berkeley form housebuilding joint-venture

The 50:50 joint-venture, called St William Homes, aims to put up to £700 million in funding towards the redevelopment of 20 brownfield sites owned by National Grid, which it says have the potential "to provide over 14,000 homes over the next 10-15 years".

St William has proposed more than 7,000 homes in its first phase of development, including "over 2,000 affordable homes". The joint-venture said that the proposed development of 84 acres of industrial land would result in the creation of "5,500 jobs, 2 new schools and 22 acres of public space".

The announcement was welcomed by London's deputy mayor for planning Sir Edward Lister, who said: "innovative approaches to housebuilding such as [the new joint-venture] will help to unlock vast swathes of land and deliver thousands of much-needed new homes. National Grid has numerous sites across the capital that are ripe for regeneration and this partnership will stimulate development and create new jobs."

"By bringing together Berkeley's development expertise with National Grid Property sites, we hope to transform redundant land that was once at the heart of the industrial revolution to meet the housing and commercial needs of the 21st century," said National Grid chief executive Steve Holliday in a statement.

Berkeley Group managing director Rob Perrins said: "This is good news for homebuilding. St William will take these sites and turn them into new communities. I am delighted to be working with a partner like National Grid which shares our values and has such a strong pipeline of land and assets."

The joint-venture aims to commence development in 2016 and deliver its first new homes in 2017.