More Rent to Build projects announced by UK housing minister

The second phase of the UK’s Build to Rent scheme is set to deliver up to 6,500 new home for private rent in England, housing minister Kris Hopkins has announced

The latest project is for 123 homes in West Drayton, a west London suburb which has easy access to both Heathrow airport and central London. It will be part of the wider Drayton Garden Village development which includes a total of 773 new homes, a nursing home and commercial premises.

Under the terms of the deal, Inland Homes will receive an £8.7 million repayable loan to build the one and two bedroom apartment with work starting on site as early as July this year.

The minister welcomed the latest contract under the government’s Build to Rent scheme as helping meet demand for good quality private rented homes in the area.

Hopkins explained that the Build to Rent fund helps developers build homes specifically for the private rented sector, and is well on track to have work underway on up to 10,000 new homes by 2015.

He added that it is the fourth site to receive Build to Rent funding in the capital, offering greater choice for Londoners looking to rent on fair and flexible terms.

Stephen Wicks, chief executive officer at Inland Homes, said that the aim is to help to shape local communities and stimulate new private housing supply, which in turn will attract new institutional investment into the private rental sector.

‘London faces an unprecedented demand for new homes, with a soaring population and following a historic 30 year failure to build enough. The Mayor has set the most ambitious house building targets to address this and the private rented sector has a huge part to play,’ said Richard Blakeway, deputy mayor for housing, land and property.

‘By improving the offer of new, good quality, well designed homes to rent, we can rebalance the capital’s rental market, improve services for tenants and boost the local economy as well as providing the new homes that hardworking Londoners so desperately need,’ he added.

According to Margaret Allen, interim executive director for programmes and recoverable investment, it is a good example of what the Build to Rent fund can achieve and is all about.

The deal is the fifth so far from the first round of the scheme, with work already started on sites in Southampton and Manchester, and work planned on sites including Bristol, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Hemel Hempstead and Southampton, as well as across London.

A further 36 schemes have also been shortlisted through the second round of Build to Rent, to deliver up to a further 6,500 homes.