SME builders to get £100m boost

The government has launched a £100m Housing Growth Partnership to help small builders.

Housing minister, Brandon Lewis, said the scheme will help “smaller builders fund new projects, expand their businesses, create more jobs and build more homes”.

It is being funded by a £50m investment from Lloyds Banking Group, which is being matched by the government and will focus on supporting residential development projects with a gross development value of between £0.75m and £12m.

The scheme is expected to make around 50 investments of between of £0.5m - £5m for each project with the aim of delivering 2,000 new homes.

It will also be used to establish a network of builders, including experienced developers, who will act as mentors and advisers to those looking to expand and grow their businesses.

Andrew Bester, chief executive, commercial banking, Lloyds Banking Group said the scheme is to “provide SME house builders with much needed equity to support residential development projects, to stimulate growth in their businesses and facilitate access to conventional property development finance”.

Brian Berry, chief executive of Federation of Master Builders, said: “One of the biggest obstacles these firms have faced is a severe difficulty in accessing finance. Without adequate access to finance they cannot bring forward the number of new homes they would otherwise”.

“The new Housing Growth Partnership will directly help to address this issue.”

In the last 25 years, the number of firms building between 1 and 100 units a year has fallen from over 12,000 to fewer than 3,000.