A year of Habiko: how is the public-private housing partnership progressing?

A partnership like this, to Ms Gledhill, is “absolutely” the way forward. First, it is bringing new private capital into the affordable housing market. Earlier this year, James Agar, head of real estate origination at PIC Capital, told Inside Housing that PIC wanted to acquire an affordable housing portfolio, but he said: “We didn’t believe that the quality of the product [we wanted] existed. So, you’ve got to build it.”

What makes the partnership even more interesting is Homes England’s role, because it is a public body. How exactly does Homes England contribute to Habiko and how did this partnership come about?

According to Ms Gledhill, Homes England plays the convening role. “They bring their policy and public sector understanding… to be able to help us understand perspectives, unblock issues and just help keep pace moving in whatever policy environment is prevailing at the time.

“They [also] hold us all to account – that’s the great thing about a public-private partnership; that you’re holding each other to account.”

“What we look for [in sites] varies depending on the type of development that we’re bringing – there’s no cookie cutter”

Ms Gledhill, who joined Muse in January this year after more than two years as managing director of developer EcoWorld London, says partnerships like Habiko do not just happen overnight: “They take quite a lot of conversations to make sure that objectives are aligned, values are aligned.”

Habiko’s role in building homes is complemented by the role of local authorities, who help choose who should live in the homes and identify the type of tenure (including social rent and discounted market rent) that would best suit the area.

As Ms Gledhill puts it, the goal is to bring “social equity to the area” and provide homes for “whatever element of the community is struggling to access them in that particular area”. Key workers are a typical example of the people that “might struggle to find homes at an affordable price in an environment where they’re needed as workers”, she explains.

It could also be “people that are not currently working but looking to access employment, it could be people in the social rent space that are looking for proximity to employment opportunities”.

As for the new homes in Chester and in Warrington, conversations have started about who will live in those homes, but it is yet to be decided.

Habiko has chosen a brownfield location in Chester on Charterhall Drive, adjacent to the city’s train station, as the site to build 350 homes – with the aim to contribute to the 15-year strategy for the economic regeneration of Chester and its town centre. Another site in Warrington, adjacent to the Time Square district, will add 240 flats between Academy Street and Mersey Street. Both schemes will have a minimum of 75% affordable homes for rent, with an overall target of up to 100% affordable housing. The target is to submit planning applications for both schemes by Christmas.

Habiko refused to disclose the projected build cost for the two schemes.

Given Muse has a regional office and a significant focus in the North West, perhaps it’s no surprise the first Habiko sites are both in this region. Will the partnership continue to focus on building homes in the North West or will it expand across England? 

“It’s just the way it’s worked in terms of those two sites being the first ones – they tick all the right boxes and they happen to be in the North West,” Ms Gledhill says. “We do have great relationships in the North West with the local authorities and of course it all helps in terms of pace and being able to bring things forward.”

“I think 12 months from announcement of the partnership, through to announcing the first two sites, is good going”

And it’s no coincidence that Habiko’s first two sites are both near town centres. According to Ms Gledhill, the partnership aims to provide “really good homes into an area that’s already established”.

“What we look for varies depending on the type of development that we’re bringing – there’s no cookie cutter,” she explains. “We spend an awful lot of time, and we did with both these two sites, looking at the local needs analysis, the local area, the local economy and the commerce.”

Reflecting on the past 12 months, Ms Gledhill says she is delighted with the pace that Habiko has managed to achieve.  

“We set out to be able to do something at scale and at pace, and I think the first 12 months have been around organising ourselves,” she says. “I think 12 months from announcement of the partnership, through to announcing the first two sites, is good going – especially when you consider that the two sites are in public consultation and about to go into public consultation, both aimed at submitting planning before Christmas.”

The partnership is already working on its next sites, which it hopes to announce more information on in the first quarter of next year.

So what does success ultimately look like for Habiko? “Success looks like we’ve met those targets [in 12 years], and perhaps we’ve expanded the fund because it’s worked so well that we’ve decided to increase the scale of ambition,” Ms Gledhill says.

“Success [also] looks like people in those new communities that we’ve [built homes for] do feel like they’ve got healthier, friendlier and greener homes.”