Custom Build

In Laying the Foundations – a Housing Strategy for England, the Government announced that it would be making up to £30m of funding available to provide short-term project finance to help unlock group custom build – or self-build - schemes.

The aim of the fund is two-fold:

To stimulate the growth of the Custom Build Homes market by enabling more multi-unit custom build home projects and attract more commercial lenders and investors to this market, thereby increasing the number of custom built homes developed annually over the next decade.
To focus exclusively on multi-unit ‘group’ projects with the objective of bringing forward sufficient numbers of successful schemes to demonstrate to commercial funders that the lending model is a viable and sustainable business which can be taken forward by industry, without public funding support, when the fund closes on 31 March 2015.
The fund can be used to cover eligible costs such as:

Land acquisition costs;
Site preparation costs;
Construction of supporting infrastructure/utilities directly related to the construction of the homes;
S106 planning obligations, Community Infrastructure Levy charges and S278 agreements;
Construction costs for the homes; and
Associated professional fees related to the project after planning permission has been granted.

We have published a prospectus setting out details of how interested bidders may apply. Projects should be outside London.

As outlined in our Land Development and Disposal Plan, to help groups of prospective bidders access a supply of land for Custom Build schemes, we will also be putting forward several of our own sites which will become available in the coming months. These include:

Kingsweir and Torpoint, Bristol

Spencers Park, Hemel Hempstead

Pleasley Colliery, Bolsover

Upper Tuesley Milford, Surrey

Wilson Road, Hanford, Stoke-on-Trent.

Chase Avenue, Walton Park, Milton Keynes

Trevenson Park, Pool, Cornwall

More information will be available on the Land and Development Opportunities section of our website as these sites become available.