Member Article

Kier reveals partnership to focus £1bn of investment into UK-wide housing

Property and construction firm Kier Group plc, which has offices across the North East in Hebburn and Killingworth, has entered a new partnership to deliver a new £1bn housing delivery scheme across the country.

Launched alongside KierLiving, The Cheyne Social Property Impact Fund (managed by UK-based investment manager Cheyne Capital) & The Housing Growth Partnership (a joint venture between the HCA and Lloyds Banking Group) the fund intends to help the public sector build 10,000 new homes across the UK.

Kier, which employs over 480 people across the region, is responsible for a number of projects in the area including the recently completed £11m Motel One hotel in the centre of Newcastle and Swans and the £100m revival of the former Swan Hunter shipyard in Wallsend.

It is also currently redeveloping the former Liquid and Envy nightclub into a 326-room student accommodation block. In Durham, it is working with Alumno Developments on the £20m Sheraton Park student scheme.

Kier North Tyneside, a joint venture between Kier and North Tyneside Council, delivers improvements and repairs to the council’s 14,000 housing stock, as well as providing a design & build and maintenance service to schools and local authority buildings, and delivering new affordable homes.

The New Communities Partnership, a public-private alliance supported by the HCA, will provide local authorities and housing associations with an innovative delivery model for building new homes on their own land, giving them the option to choose between sale and/or rental developments, and offers significant scope for affordable development.

John Anderson, Executive Director of Kier Living, said: “We are excited by the establishment of this partnership which will focus £1bn of investment into the development of much-needed housing throughout the country.

“It will bring scale and momentum to Kier’s tried-and-tested mixed-tenure housing delivery model, for public sector clients across the UK who hold land but don’t have the capacity to develop new housing.

“Through this unique public private sector partnership with experienced finance and development partners Kier, Cheyne and the Housing Growth Partnership, we are collectively offering an end-to-end solution to building much-needed new homes.”

Shamez Alibhai, Head of Cheyne’s Social Property Impact Fund, commented: “We believe that bringing responsible private capital into the UK housing sector is necessary for tackling the increasing shortfall of genuinely affordable homes across the country.

“The long-term investment horizon of our socially-conscious institutional investors means that we are able to provide patient capital to work with Kier Living and the HGP in delivering a new socially-inclusive, multi-tenure building model that helps alleviate the current housing crisis.”

Andy Hulme, CEO of The Housing Growth Partnership, added: “The Housing Growth Partnership was formed to address the challenge of housing supply and affordability in Britain today.

“Working alongside Kier Living and Cheyne Capital through the ‘New Communities Partnership’ should stimulate further growth in residential development projects and enhance access to affordable housing. The alliance will also complement our core purpose to accelerate home building throughout the UK.”