News & Analysis

UK government to launch £1.7bn social housing PPPs

A new wave a social housing PPP projects are being planned by the UK government in an effort to create construction industry jobs while renovating some of the country’s most deprived areas.

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The UK government has unveiled plans to launch £1.7 billion (€1.96 billion; $2.79 billion) of social housing PPP schemes.
 

MP John Healey

Housing minister John Healey said the £1.7 billion of PFI credits would finance projects to develop 4,500 new or improved council homes throughout the country in addition to 1,600 new affordable rented homes.
 
The ten councils to launch the schemes include Northampton, Nottingham, Southwark, Portsmouth, Cornwall, Birmingham, Shropshire, Stoke-on-Trent, Hull and Leeds.
 
The PPP social housing projects form part of a larger initiative to regenerate the most deprived areas of the UK in addition to creating 20,000 construction jobs.
 
Later this year the UK’s Infrastructure Planning Commission, the new government body intended to speed up the planning and implementation process of major infrastructure projects, will come into force. The commission will specifically target projects in the energy and transportation sectors.

Earlier this week the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee launched an inquiry into PFI schemes and how they are used to fund public sector infrastructure projects.