Colmore Tang launches social housing division
Colmore Tang Construction (CTC) has launched a specialist arm to provide a bespoke service to housing associations and providers of social housing.
Colmore Tang Living, which aims to source land in the east, west and south Midlands to deliver up to 100 houses per site, aims to be a one-stop shop for sourcing land, achieving planning and delivering properties.
It promises to be a valuable asset to housing associations that have begun ambitious acquisition programmes to satisfy the need for land to deliver 250,000 new homes over the next five years, said Andy Robinson, CEO of Colmore Tang Group, which is shortlisted for an award in TheBusinessDesk.com’s Business Masters Awards next month.
“In the past five years since we launched CTC, we’ve delivered more than 2,000 homes for private sale and rent, so the move into social housing is the obvious next step for us,” he said. “Social housing is an increasingly important area and the need to build hundreds of thousands of homes has never been more urgent.
“Our expertise in identifying suitable sites and bringing them through the planning process, as well as delivering maximum value and providing the skills to deliver and construct quality homes, means we are in the ideal position to work alongside social housing providers. It’s also heartening to be able to deliver our quality homes with a social purpose.”
The launch of Colmore Tang Living will also enable the organisation to enter into the off-site manufacturing market, building the houses using modern methods of construction.
CTC’s interest in off-site manufacturing grew last year, following the launch of its technology accelerator programme, ConstrucTech; a £10m innovation fund for start-up companies to demonstrate an innovation or technology to improve the sector’s productivity, sustainability and skills issues.
“We’ve long championed forward-thinking practices that bring significant benefits to the construction industry, and off-site manufacturing is a fast, lean and efficient method that we are keen to be involved with,” added Robinson.
Colmore Tang Living aims to be on its first site in Q2 2019 and is already in advanced discussions with housing associations about sourcing appropriate plots for development.
According to Government statistics, almost four million households in England live in the social housing sector and the number of households is projected to rise by 220,000 every year. More than one million households are on local authority waiting lists, with more than 50,000 classed as priority due to homelessness.
Last year, the Government allocated £2bn for social housing over 10 years (2020-2030).
