Regeneration housebuilder of the year

Sponsored by NHBC

Berkeley Homes, Berkeley First, St George and St James, the key divisions of the Berkeley Group, together made an unbeatable team in the contest for regeneration housebuilder of the year.

Across the group, schemes range from a 29-storey landmark tower in Portsmouth to a set of multi-coloured apartments in Deptford, south-east London. Wherever a Berkeley Group division builds, the project is certain to be on brownfield land. Its divisions are providing much-needed affordable housing, going beyond the norm, with the share of affordable housing provided on site reaching 42% at Beaufort Park in Hendon in north London, and 50% at Imperial Wharf in Fulham, west London. There is scope for jobs to be created in schemes such as Royal Worcester, in Worcester, which contains 70,000m2 of small office and business accommodation alongside new homes.

This is the Berkeley Group way, and the regenerative benefits of its activities are clear. Its Gunwharf Quays mixed-use development in Portsmouth is thought to have attracted more than £50m in investment into the local economy and has changed the face of the city. Over the past year the group has also established a top-level sustainability governance committee to drive performance across sustainability targets.

Runners up

Barratt Developments

Barratt builds 225 homes on brownfield sites every week. Last year it completed nearly 15,000 homes, 12,000 of which were on land with a previous use. These were for a mix of tenures – 2,700 for rent and shared ownership. Barratt is a partner in Key London Alliance, which provides key worker housing. The firm is developing homes in town centres such as Feltham in west London and has launched its low-cost home, the iPad. The list goes on.

Bellway

Bellway is involved in the Liverpool and Newcastle-Gateshead housing market renewal pathfinder programmes, is a partner in the £1.8bn regeneration of north Solihull, and has been selected as the first developer to build homes at the Greenwich Peninsula. It built more than 7,000 units last year, including 828 affordable homes, which is set to increase as the firm has won £8.1m in funding for affordable housing from the Housing Corporation.

Countryside Properties

Much of Countryside Properties’ development land is in the designated growth areas of the Thames Gateway, the M11 corridor and The Northern Way. It is already delivering on the government’s regeneration aspirations through a range of projects. In the Thames Gateway over the past five years it has delivered more than 4,000 homes, as well as commercial property in schemes such as Greenwich Millennium Village and St Mary’s Island. Last year, the firm built 670 homes for sale and almost 1,000 homes for housing associations and others.

Lovell Partnerships

Lovell is building one of the largest housing schemes in the country to use off-site technology, with the 550-home The Way in Beswick, east Manchester. Last year, the firm refurbished over 20,000 homes and it is building more than 2,000 a year. It specialises in mixed-tenure development, often incorporating its own brand of low-cost home ownership, called Lovell Choice.

Southdale Homes

Halifax-based Southdale, with Kirklees metropolitan council, is delivering new homes and a £7m community dividend to Deighton and Brackenhall in Huddersfield. Under the deal, 500 council-owned homes in two estates will be demolished and 520 homes will be built for sale, and a further 100 for rent. Community facilities will also be built. The private sale homes have produced the community dividend for reinvestment in the local area.