Call for pilot SME participants

A new SME pilot scheme to help councils partner effectively with SME builders to provide housing in difficult to develop areas is being announced. We are looking to support areas with additional capacity to help deliver the pilot. To register your interest (if you have not already done so) click here.

Key elements of the project are:

• councils will be connected with local SME housebuilders, who will be made aware of the council’s housing requirements
• SMEs will use their local knowledge and contacts to identify suitable small sites and demonstrate how they could meet the council’s specifications
• councils will then enter into agreements with the SMEs to purchase the land and the new housing
• councils will provide staged payments to enable the SMEs to fund the developments
• at the conclusion of each project the land and housing would be owned by the relevant council

With the support of the Local Government Association, and the participation of a range of councils, we are finalising the preparatory work for this new initiative. The key elements of our support are:

• devising an effective way of contacting and filtering SMEs
• developing criteria for inclusion onto SME supplier lists
• providing application forms and designing a PMO function
• preparing a short-form output specification (if required) for a range of house types
• preparing a standard form of contract for forward purchase which is State Aid compliant

As part of the first phase of the project, we are looking to partner with a small number of councils to run pilots in their areas, at no cost to the council. It is our hope to roll out this scheme more generally in 2021.

A large number of councils has already been in touch about this initiative and we will continue to work with them as the scheme gets ready for formal launch.

Please click here to register an interest in the pilot.

We help councils by providing the capacity and capability to support the successful delivery of housing programmes.

To arrange a more detailed discussion about this initiative please contact Martin Walker, our Housing Programme Director,
at martin.walker@localpartnerships.gov.uk or on 07879 443 410.