10,000 new UK homes to be built using £1 billion Kier and Cheyne Capital fund

A syndicate of investors and developers have launched a £1 billion fund to support the building of thousands of homes on council-owned land.

The new partnership developed between Kier and Cheyne Capital, along with a joint venture between Lloyds Banking and the Government’s Homes and Communities Agency, aims to build approximately 10,000 homes on land purchased from the council across the UK over the next four to five years. This enterprise will work with the local authority to provide a mix of properties to rent and buy, with the council able to maintain and manage any rental properties whilst keeping a portion of the rental prices as income. The more homes are released for sale, the more the syndicate will pay for the land, and properties will include discounted homes for the disabled, the elderly, and  first time buyers.

Shamez Alibhai, Head of Cheyne’s Social Property Impact Fund, told The Telegraph: “The traditional model is to build homes for sales or for rent. We want to work with councils and say what do you need for your communities.”

This fund comes following the Department for Communities and Local Government’s claim that housing developments over the past three years have included an average of only 11pc affordable housing, with the new partnership aiming to provide as much as 50pc affordable housing per development, resulting in a vast increase in housing available to those unable to afford to buy or rent from the private sector. Kier, according to John Anderson, Executive Director of Kier Living, aims to increase its current average number of builds per year from 2,200 to 4,000 by 2020.

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