Leaders in residential real estate have joined forces to support a £100m fund to deliver key worker housing in the capital.
Skyroom’s Key Worker Homes Fund will provide finance for local authorities and housing associations to develop housing through upwards extensions on existing buildings.
The developer has enlisted Sadie Morgan, The Crown Estate’s Judith Everett and Sir Steve Bullock, chairman of the Housing & Finance Institute, among others in an independent board to review applicants to the fund.
The £100m fund will support early, riskier stages of development for registered providers of social housing. It will allow airspace development on buildings in Greater London, owned by the registered provider, that have a flat roof and roof access.
Skyroom will offer pro bono feasibility studies and applications to the fund, which will be open until 16 April. Successful projects will be announced in September.
The launch follows plans for mayor of London Sadiq Khan to prioritise key workers in London’s provision of affordable housing.
Arthur Kay, chair of the Key Worker Homes Fund, said: “We want to help turn London into a city where key workers are locals in the communities they support, and the mayor’s recent policy announcement is a clear call to action to prioritise their needs through housing delivery.”
Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon, Labour peer, added: “London is a dynamic and diverse city, and we must put measures in place to keep it that way, particularly as we emerge from the pandemic.”
Skyroom’s board of commissioners
- Claire Bennie, founding director, Municipal
- Sir Steve Bullock DL, chairman of the Housing & Finance Institute
- Judith Everett, chief operating officer, The Crown Estate
- Dominic Grace, head of London residential development, Savills
- Paul Holmes, MP of Eastleigh
- Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon, Labour peer
- Professor Sadie Morgan OBE, director, dRMM
- Marc Sansom, director, SALUS Global Knowledge Exchange
- Rory Sutherland, vice chairman, Ogilvy
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