Housebuilder Hill Group has unveiled plans to spend £300m on land acquisitions as part of a drive to double its output in the next five years.
Hill Group is the third-largest private housebuilder in the UK. The family owned business will target large estate regenerations and strategic land for market sale housing, with a typical sites capacity of 500-600 homes, in outer London.
It will look to partner with housing associations and local authorities to strengthen the partnerships, which currently makes up around 70% of the business.
Hill Group is seeking to boost its annual turnover to £1bn, delivering 4,000 homes a year by 2025, up from current levels of 2,000 a year around London and the South East.
It has 6,100 homes under construction, around half of which are in joint ventures, and a secured pipeline of 1,700 private and affordable homes in London. Schemes include the 588-home Fish Island scheme in Hackney Wick with Peabody (pictured) and the 780-home Lampton Road development in Hounslow with Notting Hill Genesis.
Chief executive Andy Hill said: said: “London’s property market has proven to be very resilient, rebounding quickly after the ease of lock-down, and remains a prime area for investment and development.
“We are very well capitalised with a robust balance sheet and, while the current supply and demand dynamics persist, we are seeking attractive land opportunities to grow our pipeline yet further.”
At the end of its 2019 financial year, Hill Group reported net cash of £60.5m and £270m of undrawn secured banking facilities that it said it could use to grow the portfolio. This includes a £200m revolving credit facility secured with four high street banks until 2022. It reported annual profits of £42.6m, down 12%, delivered from revenues of £563m, which rose 12% in the year.
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