Public-private partnership to unlock local housing developments

09 May 2025

There are many stalled housing schemes in the UK today, from those with a handful of homes to those in the thousands.

With unwavering and firm commitment from the government to meet its ambitious and much-needed homes targets, there is a need for the private sector development community and local authorities to come together to unlock these developments, so we can all deliver.

So how do we go about doing it?

A month ago, at the Enfield planning committee, council employees and the NEAT team breathed a collective sigh of relief – we had just secured Section 73 planning approval for changes to a three-year-old council housing scheme that enabled a start on site to keep the original consent alive. We can now build 135 new social rented homes for local families.

It wasn’t easy: a culmination of 15 months of hard work – the very best collaboration between public and private sectors – to deliver new homes in highly constrained financial times.

The Upton and Raynham scheme was conceived in 2019, and in 2022 planning permission was granted for 134 new homes, 42 of them for private sale, 27 for shared ownership and the rest for council rent.

“By rationalising the blocks, including reducing the height of all buildings to keep them under the regulatory threshold, and simplifying massing, we will deliver simpler, more cost-effective buildings within the original design parameters”

Since then, however, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors identified a 40% increase in build costs, and together with a flatlining sale market and new building safety regulations, it left that consent at serious risk of obsolescence, with the clock ticking down to its expiry two weeks after the planning committee met.

Enfield Council asked NEAT Developments to review the scheme with a more commercial eye. We had previously worked with Enfield Council on two large private sector schemes, one for 1,800 homes and another for 1,000 homes, both with major pension funds, so we were no strangers to the difficulty of making new housing schemes stack up.

Our team set about looking at all aspects of the scheme: tenure, massing, design and detailing, and formal approvals. It was immediately apparent that 42 private homes would be a challenge to sell, and that grant-funded social rent was a more viable option.

We revised the scheme. By rationalising the blocks, including reducing the height of all buildings to keep them under the regulatory threshold, and simplifying massing, we will deliver simpler, more cost-effective buildings within the original design parameters. We simplified the detailing and reduced the number of material types to reduce costs and simplify future maintenance.

There have been numerous technical issues that required resolution, from title consolidation through to land appropriation, stopping-up issues to utility dis/connections, ending with the all-important procurement of a qualified contractor most likely to deliver on time and within budget.

We worked closely with the relevant teams in the council to manage and overcome these challenges. Perhaps most importantly, NEAT performed that strong client function for Enfield that is sometimes easier for a third party to provide than for an internal client.

This project has been an exciting collaboration for NEAT. We often work on large schemes with social housing as part of a much wider placemaking vision. Taking a tight linear site along the North Circular Road to provide a significant number of new homes for local residents has challenged us to work within the constraints of existing consent and still deliver a viable, quality development.

“It will always be difficult for councils to employ the skills necessary for direct delivery. Much better for councils to be good clients”

Local authority direct delivery of new homes has not always been viewed favourably. A number of councils established, and have now wound up, wholly owned housing companies. Some, such as at Croydon and Cambridgeshire County Council, have rightly or wrongly even been blamed for contributing to their host’s near-bankruptcy. But any developer will tell you that theirs is a risky business environment, and even the biggest and best can call the market wrong.

In our view, it will always be difficult for councils to employ the skills necessary for direct delivery. Much better for councils to be good clients: establish a clear brief; challenge appointed partners to ensure viability and frequently check that assumption; commission something that is simple to build and easy to maintain; that is exceptionally well insulated and cost-effective to heat; and has high external amenity standards. Never lose sight of the occupier.

When it comes to delivering those homes, ask first if you have the right skills to do so. There are plenty out there who do, and there is no value in replicating that skill for no good reason.

A good public-private partnership can be effective, unlock stalled housing development and deliver more than the sum of its parts.

Youssef Kadiri, Managing Director, NEAT Developments