How master developers can unlock SME opportunities
Amid the Cannes sunshine last month, some in the industry may have missed the Government’s delayed response to the Letwin Review, writes Alex Robinson, director of development for strategic land at Grosvenor Britain & Ireland. In a written submission issued with the chancellor’s Spring Statement, James Brokenshire endorsed Letwin’s emphasis on housing diversification to increase build-out rates and housing delivery.
While elements of Letwin’s review will continue to spark debate – not least the proposals around land value capture – many in the development industry will be able to get behind the push for diversification.
To make this a reality, we need a shift in delivery mechanisms, as well as impetus from the planning system. That means creating the right environment for a variety of housebuilders to play their part, particularly smaller businesses.
Amid the Cannes sunshine last month, some in the industry may have missed the Government’s delayed response to the Letwin Review, writes Alex Robinson, director of development for strategic land at Grosvenor Britain & Ireland. In a written submission issued with the chancellor’s Spring Statement, James Brokenshire endorsed Letwin’s emphasis on housing diversification to increase build-out rates and housing delivery.
While elements of Letwin’s review will continue to spark debate – not least the proposals around land value capture – many in the development industry will be able to get behind the push for diversification.
To make this a reality, we need a shift in delivery mechanisms, as well as impetus from the planning system. That means creating the right environment for a variety of housebuilders to play their part, particularly smaller businesses.
Making space for SMEs
Different builders bring different specialisms, lending themselves naturally to the provision of more housing types, tenures and design. There is also the very real issue of construction capacity, with the shortage of available skilled workers hampering our ability to get homes built. Drawing on a greater pool of resources is vital.
Lack of viable land is restricting small and medium-sized housebuilders. Changes to the National Planning Policy Framework seek to increase housing delivery on smaller sites. But the private sector master developers can unlock opportunities for builders on larger strategic sites, too.
By overseeing the planning and build-out process, master developers can identify clusters of 20- to 30-home plots more suited to smaller builders’ skills and capacity. For example, we are in conversations with several housebuilders for a parcel of land at our Barton Park development, which we are bringing forward with Oxford City Council. The plot’s topography and the presence of mature trees means a more flexible design approach is needed – something which smaller, more agile builders are often better geared up to deliver.
Specialist delivery partners
Bringing in more housebuilding partners will also ensure that we deliver places where people want to live. Strong communities are genuinely mixed, with homes for people of all ages and backgrounds. A greater range of specialist and creative input should also help us to avoid the common public criticism that the design of new homes suffers from a “cookie-cutter” style.
Casting our net further still to include specialist delivery partners such as retirement and elderly-living providers, PRS developers, local authority direct build and even self-builders will reinforce this drive for diversity in both the homes we deliver and the people who have access to them.
This is not to say that we should push the pendulum too far in one direction: 3,000-home sites divided into 20-home plots would only exacerbate the issue of slow delivery rates. It’s about shifting the share of housing delivery to a wider group of builders.
Legislation is one way to achieve this, and the government has promised new guidance on supporting a wider mix of housing types, but developers should be more proactive, too. Through careful masterplanning, we see an opportunity to draw on the full resources of our homebuilding industry, bringing in a variety of partners across multiple phases to maximise capacity and create genuine mixed communities.
