Olympic Village developer Lend Lease is planning to take on Berkeley and Barratt to become one of London’s largest housebuilders.
Lend Lease, which is already a major residential developer in its native Australia, is looking to capitalise on the capital’s growing shortage of new homes and sell directly to the public.
It has set itself a target to build and sell as many as 1,000 new homes a year in London by 2017 under its own brand.
Barratt and Berkeley, the capital’s two largest housebuilders, currently deliver 1,000-2,000 homes a year in London.
Until now, Lend Lease has built homes only as a contractor, delivering more than 3,500 in the UK for the likes of British Land, Land Securities and the Olympic Delivery Authority.
The developer built the 2,800-flat London 2012 Athletes Village, which was sold by the ODA to Triathlon Homes and a Qatari Diar and Delancey joint venture for a total of more than £800m.
Dan Labbad, Lend Lease’s European chief executive, said: “There is an acute shortage of new homes in London and we believe that we have the capability to take advantage of a unique market opportunity.
“We will be building on our residential track record.”
The firm’s new UK residential development division will be led by managing director of development Mark Dickinson.
The first new homes will be in the 284-home, 37-storey St Mary’s tower in Elephant & Castle, SE1, for which a detailed planning application was submitted to Southwark council in July.
In total, Lend Lease will build 2,800 homes on the site of the former Heygate Estate in Elephant & Castle over the next decade.
Around 350 homes are also planned at the International Quarter scheme in Stratford, adjacent to the Olympic Park.
The company is also looking for new residential development opportunities in the capital and will look to partner with major public and private sector landholders.
nick.whitten@estatesgazette.com
