Category: Latest News

We are delighted to announce the addition of Mark Chadwick to the HGP Senior Advisor Panel.

Mark has a wealth of experience having operated in the construction and development industry for over 30 years, spanning residential development, main contracting and pure housebuilding.  Mark progressed from being an estimator / quantity surveyor by trade, to Technical Director at Persimmon and then Regional / Managing Director at Jones Homes, Hollinwood Homes and Hollins Homes.  Mark was also a founding Director of Hollins Homes and contributed significantly to the direction and growth of the business.

Ross Baird at HGP said, “It’s great to have someone of Mark’s calibre joining our excellent panel of Senior Advisors who provide such fantastic guidance and support both to us and our partners.  He joins us as we embark on the next stage of our growth journey, targeting delivery of a further 5,000 homes by 2025”.

HGP Senior Advisors are a group of experienced industry experts funded by HGP who are made available to our partners when HGP invests in a scheme, to provide support and guidance as it is required throughout the life of the project.  To date, our Senior Advisors have provided over 650 days of support to our partners.

Find out more about HGP’s Senior Advisors here.

 

As organisations around the world  recognise International Women’s Day today, 8^th March, 2022, social impact investor Housing Growth Partnership (“HGP”) is pleased to have agreed a financial investment with an ambitious female-led property development business based in Edinburgh.

Housing Growth Partnership (HGP) has today announced an investment deal worth £1.5m into the  Whiteburn group. This is a significant investment in the established Scottish developer who are now focusing on design led residential development across Scotland. The  injection, is part of HGP’s newly created £300m property fund for SME developers and will bring much needed new housing to the Kingdom of Fife.

Whiteburn Projects Limited is run by Managing Director Eve McCurrich, currently 50% of the employees are female. Commenting, Ms. McCurrich, who has spent nearly 20 years working in residential development, said: “The investment from HGP has come at a great time and will enable us to progress plans at our Viewforth development in Kirkcaldy, Fife, where construction work is now getting underway.

“The development will be built in the grounds of the former Viewforth High School and will comprise 72 two-, three- and four-bedroom homes as well as 15 affordable properties for local people in need of high quality contemporary accommodation – and importantly a place to call home.”

Ross Baird, Investment Manager of HGP, commented “Eve is an impressive operator, who is very focussed on delivering a high quality product with sustainability and open plan living at its core.  We are delighted to back Eve and the Whiteburn team on this development, and are already exploring further investment opportunities to support their ambitious growth plans”.

On International Women’s Day it is great to be able to acknowledge Eve and the team’s contribution to the sector, and it will hopefully inspire even more to follow in Eve and her colleagues footsteps in the future”.

HGP and Hollins Homes (‘Hollins’) are pleased to announce a partnership under HGP’s recently established Regional Growth Initiative which sees HGP provide a £15m commitment to the housebuilder to support its pipeline delivery.

The RGI is part of HGP’s newly created £300m property fund and the agreement with Hollins sees HGP providing a 4 year equity commitment of £15m to support Hollins deliver residential developments across the North West in addition to helping securing positions on allocated land.

Hollins Homes was established in 2015 as the housebuilding arm of the land promotion company Hollins Strategic Land (established 2007).  Since inception, Hollins has grown into an established, award winning, regional housebuilder operating across the North West.  Hollins pride themselves on delivering highly desirable, well designed and aspirational homes in high quality developments with a focus on enhanced landscape and space.

The company has been recognised for awards in the region including Best NW Residential Developer 2019 and was shortlisted for Small Developer of the Year at the Resi Awards 2021.

Since 2018, HGP has provided Hollins with equity commitments of £6.9m across 5 development schemes, totalling 282 units.  With the implementation of the RGI partnership, Hollins is well placed to meet its target of delivering over 150 units per annum from 2024 onwards

Stephen Goodman, Chief Executive of Hollins Homes, commented  “We are delighted to be extending our relationship with HGP through utilisation of their RGI fund. HGP have long been a trusted partner of Hollins and with this funding package now secured we can proceed with increased confidence in implementing our medium to long term site acquisition and growth plans.”

 

 

 

John McKeon, Investment Director of HGP, commented “HGP has supported Hollins for 4 years and been extremely impressed with the schemes delivered and the quality of the management and operational team. It is with businesses like Hollins in mind, with strong capabilities, an ambition to increase their output and a strong local community focus, that we have developed the Regional Growth Initiative.We look forward to continuing our support of Hollins as they look to deliver on their growth plans over the coming years and we look forward to rolling out the Regional Growth Initiative with further established partners in the region.”

Housing Growth Partnership recently announced that is has now committed to support the delivery of over 5,000 new homes across the UK.  This takes HGP past the halfway point of its ambition to support the delivery of 10,000 new homes across the UK by 2025.

Since HGP’s launch in 2016 the fund has invested over £170m alongside 48 housebuilders on 95 developments with a combined GDV £1.5bn.  Half of these units are already completed and sold to families across the UK.

In 2021 alone, HGP invested £45m alongside 14 different housebuilders on 20 developments to support the delivery of 1,400 new homes across the UK.

In 2022, HGP will continue to support the housing market by providing housebuilders with equity funding to deliver high quality and affordable homes.  HGP recently announced a further £300m commitment which will enable larger residential developments and offer support across all tenures in the living sector.  The new fund will also look to prioritise projects with a greater sustainability focus, as well as those using modern methods of construction to help the sector tackle its sustainability challenges.

Vic Hepburn – CEO and Head of Fund – ‘Sitting behind the numbers is the fact that we are supporting regional housebuilders who really care about the quality of homes they are producing and the communities they create. That’s as pleasing as the numbers and the team will continue to seek out further opportunities to support on the journey to 10,000 homes.’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Housing Growth Partnership has invested £2.2M in the delivery of 48 new homes in Frisby, Leicestershire developed by Bowbridge Homes. The development set in the beautiful Leicestershire countryside will include affordable homes as well as custom build homes.  Bowbridge Homes specialises in bespoke and high attention to detail quality property that people aspire to live in.

Oliver Purday, director of Bowbridge Homes, said: “The scheme is the latest step forward in the growth of Bowbridge Homes and we are delighted that the development – and our on-going growth – is being supported through our continuing partnership with HGP.” Commenting on custom building in general, he added, “this is an evolving area in the UK housing market with a lot of potential”.

Mike Murphy, HGP’s Midlands and Wales investment director, said: “The Housing Growth Partnership (HGP) is delighted to be backing Bowbridge Homes on this exciting new project which includes 8 custom build plots, marking HGP’s first involvement with custom build housing which comes at a time when “Self and Custom Building” is high on the Government’s agenda.

The custom build homes are a first for HGP and are proud to be working and supporting Bowbridge Homes in this exciting development. HGP are keen to support a variety of developments including self and custom build, an exciting part of the market.

Briar Homes is to become one of the first UK housebuilders to be supported by a Regional Growth Initiative (RGI) from Housing Growth Partnership (HGP) which forms part of the social impact investor’s newly created £300 million property fund.

(From left) Scott Sanderson, HGP; Ian McGarvey, Briar Homes; Ross Baird, HGP; Paul Kelly, Briar Homes and Collin Bennet, HGP

The RGI is a four-year commitment that will see HGP investing up to £10m of equity alongside Briar, targeting new sites for family housing in locations across Central Scotland, with a particular focus on Glasgow and the surrounding commuter belt.

Colin Bennett, HGP investment director for Scotland, said: “We are delighted to support regional housebuilders like Briar Homes, which have the ambition to provide much-needed new homes and also to give those searching for a new property more options beyond a market dominated so heavily by PLC housebuilders.

“Our relationship with Briar goes back some years in fact. Being part of the AS Group, a family owned and operated business, we first invested alongside AS Homes in 2016 supporting its entry back into the private development market and they created an incredible location at Broomhouse.”

Since 2016, HGP has provided Briar with equity investment of £3.6m across two development schemes, delivering over 100 units and assisting with the company’s ambitious growth plans. With the implementation of the RGI partnership, HGP aims to support the development of up to a further eight sites and over 400 new homes.

Paul Kelly, managing director of Briar Homes Ltd, said: “The support we have received by working in partnership with HGP over the past four years is key to our continued growth. We are delighted to be signing up as their first ‘Regional Growth Initiative’ partner in Scotland, with an initial £10m funding commitment over the next four years. This allows us to focus on building high quality, architect-designed homes in sought after locations.

“The funding partnership is vital to our aim of creating new homes to exacting standards. The first development funded through the RGI of 35 homes at Dealston Road will offer buyers a higher specification as standard and will create a new community within the popular town of Barrhead, Glasgow.”

Colin added: “Briar’s focus on high quality, good value homes epitomises the value that small and medium-sized housebuilders bring to their local communities.

“Our joint discussions around how HGP could better support their plans for the future helped us shape the RGI as a proposition, and we are delighted to be providing long-term support to the business through the newly created £300m fund.”

If you are looking to create a partnership with Housing Growth, get in touch today.

Housing Growth Partnership (‘HGP’) is pleased to announce that it has recently provided equity funding of more than £3m to award-winning UK property developer Artisan Real Estate.
The funding, which follows the recent launch of HGP’s £300m fund for SME housebuilders across the UK, will support the development of Rowanbank Gardens in Corstorphine, Edinburgh, comprising 126 energy-efficient, low carbon homes.

Demand
Colin Bennett, Investment Director for Scotland at HGP, commented: “Edinburgh has ambitious targets for low carbon housing and we are more than confident that this latest development, will prove to be extremely popular in the local market.

Artisan is perhaps best known in Scotland for large scale city regeneration projects like New Waverley, which has transformed the heart of Edinburgh’s historic Old Town. The developer is now applying the same values and philosophy which has guided the successful design and execution of New Waverley to its residential developments, setting it apart from other major homebuilders in Scotland.

HGP has forged an excellent working relationship with the Artisan team and we are delighted to be investing into this exciting development that will significantly raise the industry bar on sustainable home building in Scotland.

The development
The development will deliver a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, all designed around a central courtyard garden, filled with fruit trees and communal planting beds, that will provide nearly twice the level of open space recommended by council planning policy.

Apartments are designed for open plan living with large windows giving views of the courtyard and the wider area, while green roofs ensure benefits of surface water retention, insulation and ecology.

Linking closely with the City of Edinburgh Council’s ‘Future Edinburgh’ strategy which aims to make the city carbon neutral within the next ten years, Rowanbank’s smart building design has been matched with an innovative approach to placemaking and community – introducing such creative concepts as green roofs, ‘edible’ gardens and green transport plans to sensitive city centre environments, which includes all-electric charging points for the provided car parking, City Car Club spaces and generous secure cycle parking.

David Westwater, Artisan’s Scottish Regional Manager, for Artisan Real Estate, believes that the development represents an exciting stepping stone in the growth and development of the company.

He says: “HGP have proved to be a great support to us every step of the way and we’re looking forward to working closely together to bring this low carbon development to market and importantly, satisfying the housing needs of so many local people.

“Remaining true to our urban regeneration credentials, at the heart of all our developments is building a strong sense of place for a wide range of homebuyers, including young professionals, families and downsizers.

“With Rowanbank, we now have an opportunity in Scotland to set a new benchmark for high quality urban regeneration in a sensitive city-centre environment, but with low carbon footprint development at the heart of everything we do.”

The properties will be for sale from November, with the sales office opening in Spring 2022, and first movers anticipated in Autumn 2022.

If you are housebuilder looking for growth and to accelerate your business through funding get in touch with HGP today.

HGP and Genesis Homes (‘Genesis’) are pleased to announce that Genesis will be one of the first HGP partners in the newly establish Regional Growth Initiative (‘RGI’) which forms part of HGP’s newly created £300m property fund.

Genesis Homes is a Penrith based housebuilder, established in 2017 to deliver quality family homes, with the vision of becoming the leading housebuilder in the region.  Genesis is focussed on delivering 2 storey affordable family housing in well-connected semi-rural locations that have an identified housing need.  Genesis has a well established house type range which has been refined and improved using ongoing customer feedback and sales performance data.

Genesis’s recent (April 2021) acquisition of Russell Armer Homes has further underlined their growth ambitions and allows them to enter the South Lakes residential market with a well respected and sought after brand.

The RGI is a 5-year commitment that will see HGP investing up to £15m of equity alongside Genesis in residential developments across Cumbria and the South Lakes to allow them to target and purchase larger strategic development sites and grow into an established regional housebuilder.

Since 2018, HGP has provided Genesis with equity commitments of £9.1m across 7 development schemes, totalling 251 units, helping Genesis grow from delivering 10 units in its first full financial year to 75 units and revenue in excess of £20m in 2020.  With the implementation of the RGI partnership, Genesis is well placed to meet its target of delivering over 180 units per annum from 2026 onwards.

 

Nicky Gordon, Managing Director of Genesis Homes commented: “The RGI has allowed us to utilise our equity in progressing a larger number of schemes and it provides us with additional confidence to grow our business through this reassurance that our equity can go further. The sharing of speculative time delay risk in the planning and pre start process is also of significance in that we know that our entire equity is not trapped in specific schemes that may experience a delay in commencement. The streamlining of legal and due diligence processes is also notable“

 

John McKeon, Investment Director of HGP, commented “HGP has supported Genesis for 4 years and been extremely impressed with the schemes delivered and the quality of the team that Nicky has built. It is with businesses like Genesis in mind, with strong capabilities, an ambition to increase their output and a strong local community focus, that we have developed the Regional Growth Initiative.

We look forward to continuing our support of Genesis as Nicky and the team look to deliver on their growth plans over the coming years and we look forward to rolling out the Regional Growth Initiative with further established partners.”

 

 

 

Rachel Miller has been appointed by Housing Growth Partnership (HGP) to a newly created Investment Director role. She is responsible for accelerating growth by transacting larger equity investments in residential developments across the UK.

Previously Head of New Investment at Grosvenor, her appointment marks a step change in the ambitions of HGP, with significant additional funding recently announced and a remit covering developments up to £75 million and the full range of residential sectors, including BTR, retirement, affordable and regeneration.

She comments: “It’s an exciting time to be joining HGP following the recent announcement of a new £300 million equity commitment to joint ventures with housebuilders and developers.”

“There is a clear need for more housing in this country, and everyone should be able to access good quality, secure and well-managed properties through a range of ownership and rental options. Whether that be a suburban house with a garden, or a city-centre retirement development.”

“My background working in complex and historic areas of London has given me an appreciation of creating places which retain their desirability for the long term and which are flexible enough to respond to change. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to partner with those developers who share our ambition to create homes which are sustainable positive additions to existing places and communities.”

Rachel’s previous roles have seen her as Head of Strategy for Grosvenor and consulting for Matter Real Estate.

Rachel is a Chartered Surveyor with degrees from Cambridge and Reading Universities and she sits on the Board of Soho Housing.
If you are a large housebuilder seeking investment, get in touch today. 

 

• Housing Growth Partnership (‘HGP’) commits £300 million equity funding to SME and regional housebuilders
• New fund aims to support the development of 10,000 new homes by 2025
• Regional Growth Initiative will provide additional assistance to the most ambitious regional housebuilders in the UK

HOUSING GROWTH PARTNERSHIP II

The Housing Growth Partnership II (‘HGP’) has announced a new £300 million commitment to SME and regional housebuilders in the UK. The partnership aims to bridge the homebuilder funding gap, allowing housebuilders to build more homes across the UK and grow their businesses.

The new fund will support a wider range of housing tenures to meet the UK’s diverse and evolving housing needs. Building on the success of the first HGP fund announced in 2016, the new £300 million commitment will help HGP achieve its target of supporting the development of 10,000 new homes by 2025.

The new fund will be broader in scope to enable investment into larger housebuilding projects with a development value of up to £75 million. It will offer support for the delivery of a wider range of housing projects including Build to Rent, Regeneration and Retirement Living. The partnership will also look to prioritise projects with a greater sustainability focus, as well as those using modern methods of construction and other evolutionary construction methods.

Since its launch, the HGP has invested alongside 46 housebuilders to support the delivery of over 4,568 new homes, with nearly half now completed and sold to families across the UK.

Housing Minister RT Hon Christopher Pincher MP said: 

“It is a top priority of this Government to increase housing supply so hard-working people can be helped into home ownership.

“A thriving SME sector is crucial to our house building targets and ambitions. This significant amount of funding will help smaller and regional housebuilders by providing them with the financial support necessary to deliver much needed new homes.”

Vic Hepburn, CEO of Housing Growth Partnership, said: “We are pleased to be building on the success of the Housing Growth Partnership by extending the range of support we can provide to the UK housebuilding market. This includes our new multi-tenure approach which will provide more flexibility for housebuilders and more choice for homebuyers.

The introduction of the Regional Growth Initiative will also allow the Housing Growth Partnership to support the most ambitious housebuilders in a more substantial way with additional financial and strategic support.”

Harry Swales, Chief Investment Officer at Homes England, said: ‘The Housing Growth Partnership has already proved to be a huge public-private sector success and we’re now pleased to expand the fund to offer SMEs further support. By injecting this additional investment and harnessing Lloyds Banking Group’s commercial skills we’re able to diversify the market, support increasing numbers of builders and provide the homes the country needs.

 

REGIONAL GROWTH INITIATIVE

 The HGP fund will also partner with the most ambitious SME housebuilders in the UK to support their growth and development through its new Regional Growth Initiative. This scheme will see HGP committing a higher level of dedicated equity support to these housebuilders over a defined period to allow them to invest in their businesses and target larger and more strategic sites.

The first five regional partnerships are already in place across in four different regions of the UK with Genesis Homes, Durkan Homes, Stonewood Partnerships, Briar Homes and Cruden Homes.

The Regional Growth Initiative is being rolled out UK wide with the aim of trying to support the next generation of large regional housebuilders.

If you are a housebuilder looking to find out more, get in touch today with our team.