Legal & General has joined an alliance to help local authorities deliver and make savings in their housebuilding requirements.
The Strategic Alliance is a venture between L&G, Laing O’Rourke and Touchstone, which aims to help councils deliver up to 2,000 homes pa.
The alliance will provide investment, construction services and management of build-to-rent housing on local authority sites across the UK.
The alliance says this will address the frustrations of local authorities in regards to a lack of investment, design expertise and professional management services from the private sector. In addition, it will help councils to cut multiple procurement processes, which last many years, when developing local authority housing.
The alliance will work by leasing land to L&G, which will then provide funds to Laing O’Rourke to build homes, which are then leased to L&G and managed by Touchstone.
All rental income over and above the lease payments will belong to the council. At the end of the lease the council will have the option to take back the homes in perpetuity for £1.
Pete Gladwell, head of public sector partnerships at Legal & General Property, said: “The housing shortage is one of the biggest challenges facing the UK, and local authorities are at the sharp end of the issue.
“Nobody can offer an all-conquering solution but we can all do our bit to help meet the challenge. What this alliance is trying to do is simple: make accessing quality private sector support as stress-free and financially-beneficial as possible for local authorities.
“By bringing our individual industry expertise to the table, we hope to deliver real benefits to councils and the communities they serve.”
