Grand Designs property guru Kevin McCloud has unveiled plans to raise £50 million to build hundreds of sustainable homes a year which will be more interesting than those released by many developers.
His property company HAB Housing has launched a new bond to raise the funds to buy land and start building houses mostly in South West England that he says will be a pleasure to live in.
If successful the first development will be 150 homes in Bristol and future plans could see hundreds more built in Oxfordshire, Somerset and Wiltshire. The developments would include social housing and shared social spaces.
The bond aims to raise an initial £8million to £10 million to fund the recently announced Elderberry Walk development in Bristol which starts construction later this year. With three new projects in the pipeline, the goal is to raise £50 million over the next 12 months to buy land.
HAB was launched in 2007 with a vision to counterbalance large volume housing schemes with beautiful, sustainably built homes. Its projects incorporate social housing, green space and community areas, taking local context and needs into consideration.
‘I’m very excited to launch the IFA bond hot on the heels of our successful crowd funded mini-bond. It’s a great opportunity for us to deliver against our sustainability objectives and become a truly triple bottom line business, creating measurable social, environmental and sound financial profits,’ said McCloud.
‘Our innovative approach to fundraising will also help us achieve our five year vision to build 600 new homes per year, combat the UK housing crisis, and challenge the way volume housing is designed and delivered. The launch of the bond is another step as we continue to build award winning housing that is a pleasure to live in,’ he added.
HAB’s chief financial officer Simon Bullock explained that building 600 homes per year is a tenfold increase on current build rate. ‘As a small house builder with pride in what we do, we hope the bond will enable us to continue building sustainable homes that people love to live in,’ he said.
