Homes England must act fast to support SME housebuilders in the wake of COVID-19, urges Mark Booth, managing director of Hayfield
After remaining silent for the first two weeks of the coronavirus lockdown across the UK, Homes England has made two announcements. The first was a request for input on what support the industry needs, while the second was an announcement that contracts have been exchanged with a major housebuilder for six development projects which will deliver a total of over 570 plots.
Mark Booth, managing director of Hayfield, said: “Two weeks is a long time when the vast majority of the country’s workforce is homebound – under Government lockdown – while the NHS fights a heroic war against a deadly global pandemic.
“The biggest grey area in all of the chaos has been whether construction sites should and could remain open. While some are still operating, billions of pounds of development has paused to safeguard staff and contractors and prevent the opportunity for the further spread of COVID-19.
“Much more clarity is vital on this matter over the coming weeks to ensure sites can become operational in a timely fashion, as soon as it is safe to do so.
“But while construction has occupied many business and industry headlines, much bigger issues lie beneath the surface. Registered Providers have backed out of agreed deals – including those in solicitors’ hands – leaving residential land transactions in disarray across the country. The delaying impact this will have on bringing new homes to market is catastrophic! Registered Providers are meant to be the delivery vehicle for Homes England, so what is the rationale here?”
‘Will coronavirus reverse progress of SME housebuilders?’
Booth continued: “The announcement that Homes England has exchanged contracts with Vistry Partnerships for six schemes that will deliver 570 homes has left me very confused about where the public body’s priorities lie and what its focus now is.
“There has been so much research and energy put into the quest to boost the percentage of new homes delivered by SME housebuilders in order to raise design, quality standards and customer satisfaction. Will the impact of coronavirus see all that reversed?!
“The six Homes England schemes in question were marketed separately – our sister company Living Space Housing bid for one of the sites. The size and scale of all six developments are perfect for SME housebuilders, so at the time of bidding we were encouraged and optimistic, as I’m sure many other SMEs in the marketplace were. So, it’s surprising to see that all six have gone to a major housebuilder.”
Booth concluded: “None of us can predict how severe and wide-ranging the impact of COVID-19 will be. But as Homes England has alluded to, the industry will definitely require support. And for the SMEs who make only a fraction of the profits that major housebuilders deliver to shareholders – will we be dealt an even more unfair hand in all of this?
“Will this unprecedented virus outbreak see even greater market share being captured by volume housebuilders? As an SME housebuilder, we have been encouraged by the Government and Homes England over the past two years to enter the market and are currently at the difficult part of the growth cycle. Now is the time for support!”
Hayfield specialises in building luxury family houses and has six live sites located in Warwickshire, Oxfordshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire. A total of 430 homes are currently under construction.
