Homes England agrees '150m loan deal for 600-home catalyst development

During his keynote speech at the Housing Conference in Manchester today Kit Malthouse, housing minister, will announce that Homes England has agreed '155.3m of loan funding from the bank to help deliver schemes in Southampton and Wimbledon.

The loans will be the first money to come through the government's '1bn Housing Delivery Fund, which was set up between the government and Barclays Bank last September'to finance small and medium-sized developers to deliver new homes across the country.'

A total of '150m of this will go towards the development of 604 apartments on the site of the former Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium at Plough Lane.

The loan will accelerate the construction of the development which will be delivered in a joint venture between housing association Catalyst and house builder Galliard Homes. The whole development will include 30% affordable homes, commercial space, as well as AFC Wimbledon's new 11,000-seat stadium.

In Southampton, Cannon Capital Developments will receive a '5.3 million loan to convert a former commercial building into 56 apartments for private sale in the city's Ogle Road.

Mr Malthouse said: 'Upping our game to build more, better and faster is how we are going to meet our ambition of delivering 300,000 homes a year by the middle of the next decade.

'Innovations are key to unlocking the next generation of homes and our Housing Delivery Fund ' a '1 billion partnership between government and Barclays ' is a great example of the new approaches we're taking to get more homes out the starting blocks."

The '1bn Housing Delivery Fund was agreed between James Brokenshire, housing secretary, and John McFarlane, former Barclays chair, in September last year. Under the agreement Barclays has contributed '875m, while Homes England has contributed '125m.

Applicants to the fund must be able to prove a strong record of delivery of new homes, and show that the development not progress or would not progress as quickly without this funding

The Catalyst/Galliard loan comes well above the '100m limit outlined last year when the fund was announced.

Source: Inside Housing'

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