250 new affordable homes are to be built above existing properties thanks to a £10m revolving loan provided by City Hall.
The homes will be built on 20 sites across London, including those owned by local authorities, registered social housing landlords and private land owners and will be constructed offsite before being assembled and completed on location.
They’ll be built by Apex Airspace Limited who will also use some of its City Hall loan to fund a further 250 homes to be made available at market rate. Receipts from these homes will ensure the scheme is financially viable.
City Hall says the proportion of affordable housing units may vary on each site, but its agreement with Apex requires at least 50 to be started by 31 March 2020, 100 by March 2021 and 100 by March 2022.
The scheme is part of Mayor Sadiq Khan’s pledge to ensure small and medium-sized developers have the opportunity to build the homes London needs.
The London Assembly has previously called for a greater use of offsite construction which it says can produce “high quality” homes that can be put up “in a matter of days or weeks” once all components have been delivered.
A 2017 report by the Assembly’s planning committee also identified “significant environmental benefits” from the method, with AMs highlighting reduced deliveries to site, and associated reduction in construction-related traffic, as well as “outstanding energy performance” in the completed homes.
