Homes England and Countryside Properties, part of Vistry Group plc, have signed a long-term investment joint venture to speed up the development of large sites across England.
The new venture, called Hestia, is backed by £150m of capital from both Homes England and Vistry.
Hestia will target high-quality, mixed-tenure communities and support the Government’s goal of building 1.5 million homes during this Parliament.
Hestia’s approach will be to find sites for new infrastructure and manage the construction of new communities, each with between 400 and 3,000 homes.
Housing and Planning Minister Matthew Pennycook, said: “Rapidly growing the pipeline of large mixed tenure sites across the country, making more use of Modern Methods of Construction, and backing SME housebuilders are all essential to achieving our Plan for Change target of building 1.5 million homes in this Parliament.
“By mobilising private capital alongside government investment, this significant new joint-venture will bring forward more high-quality, mixed-tenure developments and deliver thousands of new homes to buy and rent.”
Stephen Teagle, CEO – partnerships & regeneration at Vistry, said: “This joint venture is a powerful example of what can be achieved when ambition is fused with collaboration.
“By coinvesting with Homes England, Vistry are upscaling the delivery of mixed tenure communities – Vistry is not just building homes – we’re investing in the future of communities across the UK and supporting our focus on social value including developing social and affordable housing.
“Our intention is also to pilot selling a proportion of de-risked land parcels to small and medium-sized housebuilders (SMEs) helping to increase the availability of land and stimulate growth among smaller developers.”
Pat Ritchie CBE, chair of Homes England, said: “As the government’s housing and regeneration agency, one of our key responsibilities is to unlock strategic housing sites by working with both the public and private sector to bring them forward at pace and scale, helping to meet the government’s housing targets.
“This joint venture with Vistry Group will do just that, by targeting large sites capable of delivering up to 3,000 new homes in well-designed communities, while continuing to support SME housebuilders in achieving their own growth ambitions.”
