Digest

HBOS has denied that its decision not to launch formal bids for Quintain and Erinaceous marks a curtailment of its investment in the regeneration market.

Speaking to Regenerate, HBOS head of structured finance Mark Hammond, the man who has led the bank’s charge into the regeneration market said: “Deals are done on merit. We have got a rich equity appetite and we will continue to lend and invest.”

He added: “We are not short term about this sector.”

Amid the continuing crisis in global credit markets, many in regeneration felt HBOS’ decision not to pursue bids for Quintain and Erinaceous, valued at around £1.6bn and £460m respectively, signalled a reassessment by the Edinburgh bank of its exposure to the sector.

City insiders said that although the current turmoil on the credit markets had played “a large part” in the decision not to bid for Quintain, any bid was effectively hostile and would have led to the departure of Quintain’s management team.

London mayor Ken Livingstone has announced he wants 50,000 more affordable homes to be built in London by 2011. This will include a doubling in the supply of homes for social rent to 29,000. The move comes in a draft version of the mayor’s first housing strategy – the fruit of expected new housing and planning powers that give him responsibility for London’s £1bn affordable housing budget.

Livingstone also pledged to:

• encourage institutional investment in the private rented sector to raise standards
• promote housing associations to take a lead role in developments and support councils wishing to build new homes
• boost the supply of homes with three or more bedrooms in the affordable sector.

But London Assembly green party member Darren Johnson said there would be limited progress unless Right to Buy was fundamentally reformed. He said: “All discounts on the sale of social housing must be ended, and any future sales only permitted on a ‘one sold, one built’ basis.”

Landowners could make more money out of their land by selling it for shared ownership housing, Duncan Innes, English Partnerships regional director for London and the Thames Gateway told the audience at the Resi 07 conference in Wales earlier this month. Innes explained: “Modelling over 10 years shows that staircasing out of shared equity housing would produce a better return than outright sale for the landowner.”

EP is carrying out the modelling as part of its research into Local Housing Companies, the new vehicles under which local authorities and development partners are set to join forces to deliver private and affordable housing.

A major Gambling Commission report has revealed that problem gambling has not increased since 1999, despite widespread speculation to the contrary.

It is understood that these findings could pave the way for England’s first super casino – earmarked for Manchester. Blackpool is fighting hard to have the casino there and is waiting on a report from the government’s Blackpool Taskforce, expected to be published in mid October.

BRE is to extend its Innovation Park concept by creating a second park in a regeneration area in Limerick, Ireland. BRE’s first Innovation Park was developed at its Watford headquarters two years ago to trial design and construction innovation. So far, BRE has worked with industry partners to develop six homes, all demonstrating different approaches to the Code for Sustainable Homes, and an eco-school at the Watford park. The Irish Innovation Park will be similar to the Watford model, but would also have a specific local objective, said BRE chief executive, Dr Peter Bonfield: “We are building it there as a catalyst for change.”