Warrington signs largest new-build PFI deal

Warrington council and Arena Housing Association this week signed the country’s most valuable private finance initiative deal to deliver new social housing.

The £20m scheme’s rented housing will be built and maintained by Liverpool-based Arena.

It comprises 192 new homes on the Blenheim and Anson estates in Warrington, Cheshire, of which 105 will be for rent and 87 for sale. A further 90 homes for rent are planned as part of a future phase on different sites in the town.

The next largest PFI new-build social housing deal is thought to be Selby council’s £18m, 250-home contract.

The deal is also notable for the speed with which it was put together – Warrington council selected Arena as a partner for the scheme just one year ago.

On average it takes about two years to get housing PFI projects signed across the board, according to Steve Trueman, housing director at 4Ps, the government body set up to ensure the smooth running of PFI projects.

David Cowley, Warrington council’s principal policy and strategy manager, said that, given its size, the scheme had been put together in record time. “We’re claiming – and the ODPM is not countering – that this is the quickest new-build PFI scheme yet in terms of completing the deal,” he said.

“By November we will be on site, only two-and-a-half years after we were first selected.”

Trueman said the Warrington scheme augured well for future PFI-funded social housing. “It shows social housing can be delivered within the average timescale for the PFI. Warrington had a committed and well-organised project team and project structure, and was effective in driving the project forward.

“If you’re looking for a good example of how to do social housing through the PFI, you could do worse than Warrington.”

Completion of the deal came as deputy prime minister John Prescott used his speech to the Labour party conference this week to reaffirm his support for the PFI, citing the £500m released in the spending review for new social housing to be funded via the procurement route.