Landing BBC's MasterChef at Warwick Bar in the heart of Birmingham
The regeneration of Digbeth is one of the agency's first actions to deliver on the Levelling Up agenda.
Picture: Lensi Photography
Homes England has worked with development firm Digbeth Loc Limited and their partners to help bring the MasterChef studios to the agency's Warwick Bar site in central Birmingham.
Under the agreement, with Digbeth Loc the development firm run by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, Homes England will lease part of its land at Fazeley Street to Digbeth Loc, who will develop proposals for a mixed-used scheme, starting with the MasterChef production hub.
Homes England has assembled Warwick Bar - a collection of derelict and brownfield sites around Digbeth to help catalyse the wider regeneration of Digbeth.
The regeneration of the wider Warwick Bar site will have a transformational impact on central Birmingham and the wider economy, bringing around 1,000 new homes, and around 270,000 sq ft of employment or educational floor space.
Infrastructure loan funding bringing east London docklands back to life
Through a £233m infrastructure loan, Homes England is collaborating with public and private sector partners to regenerate one of the largest brownfield sites in London's historic docklands.
The Silvertown site in Newham has been derelict for the last 40 years and is one of the largest brownfield sites in London's historic docklands
The major regeneration project will include improvements to the infrastructure around the site and will support The Silvertown Partnership (TSP) to build 6,000 new homes and support the creation of next-generation business workspace, new space for cultural and community events and a vibrant new town centre for the Royal Docks.
Homes England will provide loan financing to help tackle high up-front infrastructure costs, which includes investment for a new pedestrian and cycle bridge across Royal Victoria Dock, the restoration of the iconic Millennium Mills and the repair of the dock walls, which have previously been a barrier to development of the scheme.
Attracting institutional capital to support SME housebuilding
Homes England and Newstead Capital have joined forces to support SME housebuilders by launching an innovative long-term development finance fund.
Alongside Greater Manchester Pension Fund, clients of listed wealth manager Mattioli Woods and other private institutional investors, have committed £80m to the Initial Close of the Newstead SME Real Estate Lending Fund (RELF).
By empowering smaller regional housebuilders, the Fund will help to encourage the creation of sympathetic and environmentally responsible projects while supporting the regional SME house building sector and boosting regional job creation.
The Fund is to be managed by specialist fund manager Newstead Capital and the intention is to grow the fund to £300m in subsequent capital raised and deliver £1bn of funding over the Fund's lifetime.
Supporting new investment in affordable housing
Long-term institutional investment in affordable housing can help meet the needs of communities across the country.
An innovative long term partnership model developed by Homes England, leading housing association Hyde and investment manager AXA IM Alts has been established, with an aim to deliver thousands of new affordable homes of all tenures across the southeast.
The model, which includes the creation of a new development vehicle and the establishment of a for-profit housing provider called Halesworth, offers an innovative new way of bringing more responsible capital into the housing sector and delivering new affordable homes that might not otherwise have been possible.
Homes England's investment into this new development vehicle is a commitment to encouraging institutional investment into affordable housing, helping to increase the supply of good quality homes in areas of high unaffordability.
The partnership will also enable local SME developers to deliver the schemes, meeting one of the Agency's key objectives.
