Wates Living Space appointed for first HCA site

30 September, 2010

The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) has today appointed a development partner for the first HCA-owned site to be procured through its Delivery Partner Panel.  Wates Living Space has been appointed to develop the former Guest Hospital in Dudley, which includes retaining the historic buildings, creating 218 market sale and affordable homes built to Level 4 of the Code for Sustainable Homes, alongside green open spaces and a community facility.

The Delivery Partner Panel (DPP) was established in January 2010 to give access to a pre-qualified list of organisations that can assist with all stages of the development process. While Guest Hospital is the first HCA scheme with a preferred developer appointed through the DPP, there are many more projects in the pipeline, at various stages of the competition process. In the first 8 months of operation, 15,000 homes have already been identified to be delivered by partners procured through the panel.

Steve Carr, head of new business and economics at the Homes and Communities Agency, said: “The Delivery Partner Panel has been extremely successful so far, helping to ensure the whole procurement process is more efficient and cost effective for both the HCA and other organisations using the panel. We have received extremely positive feedback and with the procurement process being fast-tracked, developers are able to make substantial project cost savings by choosing to select partners through the panel rather than follow a traditional procurement route.”

So far, around 8,500* new homes have been identified for construction on HCA-owned sites using the DPP. Third party organisations such as local authorities and other public land owners are also using the DPP to procure partners. The City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council recently became the first third party organisation to select a delivery partner through the panel, appointing Lovell as preferred developer for their site at Longfield Drive in Bradford.

Around 6,000* new and affordable homes have already been identified for construction on non-HCA owned public sector land, by organisations using the DPP. So far over 65 third-party organisations have used or are in the process of using the panel to procure partners for their own sites, ranging from small projects of around 20 homes to large renewal schemes that require a mix of expertise.

Commenting on his company’s appointment as preferred developer for the former Guest Hospital site in Dudley, Steve Trusler, Strategy Director at Wates Living Space said: “We are absolutely delighted to be selected to deliver the first HCA owned site through the Delivery Partner Panel alongside our partner Accord Housing Association. The Delivery Partner Panel has proved a great way of speeding up the procurement process and will be an important model in assisting with the future delivery of affordable housing.  The Guest Hospital scheme is a fantastic opportunity and we look forward to working on this and other schemes with the HCA in the future..

From finance and funding of development, design and construction to sales and marketing, the panel can be used to procure physical development works and related services in the early stages of a project. Aimed at streamlining development on publicly-owned land, the panel is divided into three clusters – northern, central and southern – to provide full national coverage. It will operate until 3 January 2013.

• *Figures are correct at the present time but will change as new projects progress to competition stage or where there are changes to the projects included in the current figures.

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Categories: new build, affordable housing, midlands

Tags: DPP, Dudley Guest Hopsital, HCA, Homes and Communities Agency