Homes England and Vistry launch €173m UK housing venture

Homes England, the UK government's housing and regeneration agency, and Vistry Group's Countryside Properties have formed a long-term joint venture called Hestia. 

Pat Ritchie & Stephen Teagle

This new entity, supported by a combined £150 mln (€173 mln) investment from both parties, aims to accelerate the development of large-scale, high-quality, mixed-tenure communities across England.
Hestia will play a crucial role in the government's goal of building 1.5 million homes this parliamentary term. Its strategy involves identifying sites for new infrastructure and overseeing the construction of communities ranging from 400 to 3,000 homes.
This initiative builds on the recent £700 mln (€806 mln) expansion of the Home Building Fund and precedes the launch of the £16 bn (€18 bn) National Housing Bank, which is expected to attract an additional £59 bn (€68 bn) in private housing investment.
Stephen Teagle, chief executive - Partnerships & Regeneration at Vistry said: “By coinvesting with Homes England, Vistry are upscaling the delivery of mixed tenure communities. Our intention is also to pilot selling a proportion of de-risked land parcels to small and medium-sized housebuilders (SMEs) helping to increase the availability of land and stimulate growth among smaller developers.
Pat Ritchie CBE, chair of Homes England, added: “As the government’s housing and regeneration agency, one of our key responsibilities is to unlock strategic housing sites by working with both the public and private sector to bring them forward at pace and scale, helping to meet the government’s housing targets.  This joint venture with Vistry Group will do just that, by targeting large sites capable of delivering up to 3,000 new homes in well-designed communities.”