English Partnerships has received more than 250 expressions of interest for its competition to build homes for £60,000 on former NHS sites across England.

The first phase of the “design for manufacture” competition has invited bids to build about 470 homes on four sites. The project was launched last Friday by chancellor Gordon Brown and deputy prime minister John Prescott. More land will be released shortly, taking the total number of homes to 1000.

EP has also confirmed that it is this week due to pay the NHS £320m for 96 surplus sites totalling 1600 ha.

The announcement was made almost a year to the day since the government first trumpeted the EP/NHS deal, which will provide land for 15,000 homes (HT 8 April 2004, page 7).

Trevor Beattie, director of corporate strategy at English Partnerships, said of the competition: “We are looking to include as much social rented as we can. We want to generate quality. We have had nearly 250 expressions of interest and many were from RSLs.

“We are very interested in RSL participation as they have very good ideas. It’s the best possible way to ensure we have high-quality affordable housing.”

EP declined to reveal which organisations had bid for “design for manufacture”. The deadline for expressions of interest is 13 May.

Beattie added that of the four sites announced so far – in Milton Keynes, Aylesbury, Northampton and the EP-owned millennium community at Allerton Bywater – each would adhere to ‘design codes’.

Source

Housing Today