Homes England, Savills and master developer Urban&Civic brought a group of SME housebuilders from across the Midlands and South together in May, to promote their role in addressing housing need and increase the diversity of delivery on largescale developments.

Hosted by Urban&Civic at its 1,200 acre Rugby site, Houlton, the event saw small and medium housebuilders gather to hear how both the public and private sectors recognise the vital role of SMEs in delivering the government’s target of 300,000 new homes.

Savills opened the event, focusing particularly on the challenges and the opportunities faced by the sector. Homes England set out its clear support, via the Home Building Fund, which is responding to the constraints within the SME sector by providing targeted development finance. The agency also outlined how it has increased its flexibility on land disposal of sites delivering less than 50 units to increase delivery by SME’s.  

Urban&Civic presented its national portfolio of largescale sites, its delivery model and how its approach to providing service land parcels is reducing barriers to entry for SMEs on its largescale sites.

Robin Butler, managing director for Urban&Civic speaking at the event said: “The successful creation of settlements of strategic scale demands the skills and resources from across the spectrum of housebuilders. Increasing participation from SME builders is an absolute priority for U&C, allowing us to drive both housing delivery rates and quality. Homes England’s combination of accelerated infrastructure funding and direct assistance to the SME builders is providing demonstrable impetus to this imperative.”