The most important government statement this week? Not the Budget, but Homes England’s five-year strategic plan.
It may carry fewer gags than Fiscal Phil; no bad thing. It may lack the sweep of the chancellor’s statement; necessarily so as a single-issue agency. And it will garner fewer column inches, for which chief executive Nick Walkley will no doubt be grateful. But as a statement of intent, with measurable targets over tight timescales, it is an impressive piece of work.
“Our ambition is to create a new type of delivery agency that will play a far more active role in the housing market. We will also show leadership on design, diversity and modernisation,” says Walkley.
“A national agency committed to a place-based approach… we will use our land, money, powers and influence to increase the pace, scale and quality of delivery. This will accelerate the delivery of new homes in areas of greatest demand and help to create great places.
“That doesn’t mean we will build the homes ourselves. It means we will intervene in the right places at the right time to change the market.”
And, while Hammond boasted how he had never signed a PFI deal and was scrapping the private finance initiative, Homes England is unapologetic that it needs “partners who share our ambition to challenge traditional norms and build better homes faster”. The private sector has a big role to play.
Those who use modern methods of construction and invest in skills will have a head start. Smaller builders will be welcomed. And Homes England will commit to deliver enabling infrastructure sites.
It’s an assertive five-year plan with teeth, where accountability is seized rather than shunned. Read it and, if you’re in the homes business – and who isn’t these days – engage.
■ Birmingham had been confident, Manchester always a frontrunner, but Channel 4 has picked Leeds for its regional headquarters. The city was lauded for putting forward “a comprehensive, compelling and ambitious strategy to partner with Channel 4 and the wider sector to support growth in the production and creative industries, and to nurture new talent from diverse backgrounds – in the region and across the UK.”
The move will open up as many as 300 jobs in Leeds, with perhaps 200 of Channel 4’s 800 current London staff moving to the city.
Those that didn’t make the cut – Cardiff also lost out to Bristol and Glasgow on creative hub status – should heed the words of West Midlands mayor Andy Street: “We will fight another day. The work that has gone into the bid has not been wasted. As we progressed through we saw a growing sense of collaboration and commitment across the region. Now we look to the future as we commit to delivering initiatives and funding to help transform our creative industries.”
In other words: don’t waste the efforts made.
■ Q3 data is in and reveals a tale of two markets. Radius Data Exchange records £5bn of London office deals in Q3 – a 10% increase on Q2 and a 28% uplift on the same period last year. Take-up is stable.
But don’t get complacent: you don’t have to scratch too far below the surface to see a different picture emerge. Rents and incentives have barely moved over the past three months; new-build and space under construction continue to drive occupational activity; and take-up numbers are again propped up by a mammoth individual letting, this time to Facebook at King’s Cross.
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