1.5m New Homes

With 50,000 people due to retire by the end of this decade from asset management roles, 20,000 from development roles, and 40% of the construction workforce, we need to recruit an awful lot of people just to stand still. Zohra Chiheb (Regeneration Team Leader, Camden Council) and Tom Conlon (Development Director, Red Loft) discuss the need for more capacity to support the 1.5m new homes ambition.

The Camden Film Quarter is a bold scheme, to deliver over 1000 affordable, private sale, BTR and student homes, with media production facilities, a National Film and TV school and the London Screen Academy. And it’s required bold moves by @Camden Council: to act as convener, bringing together 18 landowners to get a consensus on making something of the area’s potential; to agree to dispose of its o...

Meeting at the Greenwood Centre, a facility co-designed with and providing shared services for disabled and older people, Regeneration Team Leader Zohra Chiheb talks us through her role in delivering Camden Council's Community Investment Programme, the day-to-day responsibilities of a project manager, the skills required and the values that inspired her to leave behind a career in architecture and...

The Government’s new homes agenda is as much about growth as it’s about housing – new jobs as well as new homes. The regeneration of Euston driven by HS2 is a case in point: 32,000 jobs and 4-5,000 new homes over 25 years. The Leader of Camden Council, Councillor Richard Olszewski, talks us through the scale of what could be achieved, what it takes to ensure that the growth is inclusive and local...

The new homes springing up around the HS2 redevelopment zone are part of the gain from investment in new national infrastructure – but also part of the cost. As she sets out what Camden Council wants to see change, to get more homes built, Cabinet Member for New Homes and Community Investment, Councillor Nasrine Djemai, talks us through the disruption she faced to her home and education as a local...

“We’re not just sayers, we’re doers,” says Councillor Nasrine Djemai, Cabinet Member for New Homes and Community Investment at London Borough of Camden. “Camden is the place where things happen.” And for her and for Leader, Councillor Richard Olszewski, the focus is on making new homes happen. While setting out the borough’s enviable economic and cultural strengths, they acknowledge the overcrowdi...

We are pleased to share this month's webinar from 1.5M New Homes: The Local Government Challenge, with Westminster City Council. "Best practice in deep community engagement on estate regeneration" This webinar features: Tom Beardmore - Social Value and Communications Director at Mount Anvil Tom Conlon - Development Director at Red Loft James Green - Director of Regeneration and Development Deliver...

Interviewed shortly before the launch of “Good Homes for All”, the report by Architects' Action for Affordable Housing, Founder Member Luke Tozer of Pitman Tozer Architects, sets out his concern that good design might be neglected in the rush to build more homes. Luke also highlights the challenges of meeting promises to deliver on schedule, how disappointment can impact the trust that local commu...

In our final episode from Westminster, co-sponsor Mount Anvil’s newly-appointed Chief Growth Officer Lisa Ravenscroft describes the developer’s commitment to building robust public-private partnerships as a model for driving new homes delivery – exemplified by the Church Street regeneration to provide 450 homes, 50% affordable, and additional placemaking. On the difficulties of translating the sof...

Development Manager John Ndukuba started out in engineering before making the switch to public sector housing delivery with Westminster City Council. He describes cutting his teeth on projects like Dudley House, providing 197 intermediate homes, a church and a school. A communications role led Nithushan Rajaratnam to a place on Future of London’s emerging talent programme and eventually his role a...

Senior Development Manager Mollie Mills O’Brien considers her role on the 144-home scheme at 291 Harrow Road, and the variety of daily tasks she has to keep the project “always in line with the vision: what stakeholders and what we have decided that place should be”. She sets out the skills and attributes she brings to development management; and she describes her journey from private sector devel...

We hear about the evolution of Westminster City Council’s direct delivery programme, and the 45-strong team it takes to deliver 4,000 new homes. Over halfway to target, Setareh Neshati, Director of Regeneration and Development Delivery and Operations, reflects on the joy she takes in leading that programme, balancing the Council’s priorities, her determination not to be a bad client and her pleasu...

We visit 300 Harrow Road to hear why Westminster City Council invested some £60m improving the proportion of social and affordable homes in this scheme and Westmead from 50% to 100%. And the leader, Councillor Adam Hug, hints at the imminent next phase of development sites coming forward, explaining how the council manages difficult build conditions for existing residents, competing demands for la...

“We’re very well resourced and we’re ready to go,” says James Green, Director of Regeneration and Development Strategy at Westminster City Council. Calling for “serious conversations” about raising grant funding to scale up its pipeline of over 2,000 new homes, he adds: “We’re hugely ambitious. We can do this, as a council.” If you want more homes built, fund the public sector, James says. He comp...

Join Setareh Neshati, director of regeneration and development delivery and operations at Westminster City Council, on a journey that began with residents demonstrating against the regeneration of Ebury Bridge Estate to the delivery of 750 high-quality, net zero new homes, more than 50% affordable. Hear how industry KPIs were met, while fulfilling the Council's high ambitions for residents, despit...

This episode closes with a perfect summary of the state of public sector housing delivery from Westminster City Council Director of Development and Regeneration Strategy James Green: a highly ambitious target, immense challenges to overcome, relentless drive and determination to succeed – and optimism that solutions can be found. This is a great place to begin our Westminster season, a series of i...

We are pleased to share this month's webinar from 1.5M New Homes: The Local Government Challenge, with London Borough of Lambeth. "Hard-wiring inclusivity into regeneration and development" This webinar features: Jo Davis- Director of JD Consulting and Solve Social Value Nabeel Khan- Corporate Director for Climate and Inclusive Growth at LB Lambeth Danny Sutcliffe- Partner at Red Loft Toby Fox (Ch...

Lambeth Council Development Manager Luke Kelly offers careers advice and reflects on the skills needed to perform his role, and the mixture of excitement and trepidation that goes with shaping and delivering homes that people will live in. “There’s nothing like getting stuck into a project,” he says.

In Lambeth, south London, almost 5,000 households are in temporary accommodation and 30,000 on the waiting list for new homes. Councillor Danny Adilypour describes how the way “developer tax” s106 money is raised and spent, how the Council’s own direct delivery programme creates affordable and social homes, and how partnerships with private sector developers are shaped, ensure local people benefit...

A visit to a housing site in Brixton, South London, to talk about successful new housing and the systemic issues holding back the delivery of new homes. Why does development take so long? How does the subsidy system for affordable and social homes work? What does it actually cost to build a house? All this and more.

In the appropriate setting of the new black-led cultural events space, Brixton House Theatre (London’s first new theatre in half a century), we explore links between housing and Lambeth’s creative economic drivers, including the life sciences innovation district SC1, creating 60,000 new jobs as a key element of the London Growth Plan. With 20% of households facing deprivation, how does the Council...

We are pleased to share this month's webinar from 1.5M New Homes: The Local Government Challenge, with London Borough of Barking & Dagenham. "What can we learn from Barking & Dagenham on public private partnerships?" This webinar features: Caroline Harper- Interim Managing Director at Be First Paul Nicholls- Regional Managing Director for London at Wates Danny Sutcliffe- Partner at Red Lof...

A TikTok viewer asked about “the deal for the people in the middle” - "The normal working people who can’t afford £1m but also working professionals not eligible for council homes?” This special report offers a response from Barking and Dagenham Council’s development company Be First, and housing consultant @Red Loft, focusing mainly on the shared ownership tenure and the need for more of it... In...

Be First Interim Managing Director Caroline Harper sets out the recruitment and skills requirements of the company’s new mandate, and offers some advice on career development. “If you’re enjoying a job 80% of the time, you’re in the right area," she suggests. “If you’re not, you need to change something.” Instagram- @1.5mnewhomes Facebook- @1.5mnewhomes LinkedIn- @1-5m-new-homes TikTok- @1.5mnewho...

London Borough of Barking and Dagenham leader Dominic Twomey on how national housing policy trickles down to local people, how difficult it is to make policy accessible to parts of the community, and a revelatory first experience of consultation. “It was a very sobering lesson for me.” Instagram- @1.5mnewhomes Facebook- @1.5mnewhomes LinkedIn- @1-5m-new-homes TikTok- @1.5mnewhomes Bluesky- @1-5mne...