10 August 2007
NEW
FORM OF OWNERSHIP SET TO CREATE MORE
Many more
Londoners will soon be able to purchase affordable homes outright thanks to an
innovative new home ownership scheme from urban regeneration developer, First
Base.
HomeHold answers
the Government's call for better shared equity models, and enables purchasers
to own their home, with no extra rent to pay.
The groundbreaking
scheme, backed by amongst others the UK's biggest mortgage lender Halifax, is made possible through a
proportion of any uplift in value being shared with the landowner when the
property is sold on.
41 Key Worker apartments
were recently reserved within
three hours through HomeHold at Adelaide Wharf, a cutting edge residential
scheme in Shoreditch, developed by First Base under the London-Wide
Initiative, a private-public initiative with English Partnerships and The
Housing Corporation. First Base is progressing discussions with various Housing
Authorities, developers and other public sector stakeholders to make this new
approach to home ownership more widely available.
In the meantime,
First Base and English Partnerships plan to make HomeHold available to Key
Workers and First Time Buyers across a number of developments that they have in
the pipeline for London, including schemes in Greenwich and Elephant and
Castle.
Steve
Oakes, LWI Project Director at English Partnerships, said, "We established the
London-Wide Initiative to make properties more affordable for key workers on
lower incomes by reducing home ownership costs. First Base's HomeHold is a prime example of how we are encouraging the
private sector to get involved in the development of shared equity schemes,
enabling key workers to buy a home built to the highest design and
environmental standards."
Elliot Lipton, Managing Director at First Base, said, "The shortage of truly affordable quality homes in London is a major issue. With rising house prices, many Key Workers and First Time Buyers are struggling to get a foot onto the property ladder and are completely priced out of the market.
"We believe that our new approach to home ownership
will mean that buying a high
quality, sustainable home is now a reality for many more buyers across the
capital. In time, we hope that we can develop HomeHold further and work
alongside additional partners so that it can have a much broader reach."
Key
features of the new ownership scheme include:
-
The
buyer owns all of their home, with no additional rent to pay
-
When
the property is sold-on the buyer shares a proportion of any uplift in value
with the landowner
-
The
homebuyer's share of profit increases the longer the buyer has lived in the
property
-
First Base is
responsible for the long term management of the property, ensuring properties
remain affordable each time they are sold on
The Housing
Corporation has recently launched a shared equity competition that seeks to
encourage the provision of shared equity products, such as the one pioneered
through HomeHold by First Base.
-ENDS-
For media
enquiries, images or if you would
like to interview a Key Worker who has already bought a home through HomeHold
with First Base please contact:
Jessica Gooch,
Lexis PR
020 7098 6447
David Lucas, Lexis
PR
020 7908 6422
Notes to
Editors:
HomeHold
HomeHold and the HH
logo are all trade marks of First
Base Limited
First Base
Limited
Transforming
Urban Spaces and building communities.
First Base is the urban regeneration developer that creates stylish
homes in great urban spaces.
-
It transforms the way that properties are built - using
best practice modern construction methods that keep costs low yet quality high,
embracing sustainability and ensuring value for money.
-
It transforms the way that communities are formed - with
a mix of tenures, a range of homes, a commitment to high quality management and
services that make friends of neighbours.
-
And it transforms the way that style meets function - with
attractive designs, inside and out, that do more than simply look good.
Designed by
renowned architects, built by skilled craftspeople, managed by experts, First
Base homes are quality, sustainable and affordable properties for purchase or
rental.
First Base is
currently involved in a range of projects that will deliver mixed-tenure
housing in London and the South East. These include:
-
London's
first major carbon neutral scheme on the site of the former Greenwich District
Hospital
-
Stratford
City Olympic Village, as part of the Lend Lease consortium
-
Elephant and
Castle regeneration, as part of the Lend Lease consortium
-the regeneration of a site in Kings
Cross with The Blackstone Group to provide affordable accommodation to over 900
students
-
a number of
schemes under English Partnerships' London Wide Initiative including Adelaide
Wharf in Shoreditch and two sites in regeneration hot spot, Elephant and Castle
The company was
included in the RIBA "Top 50 Clients" survey for its innovative approach to
quality design, using renowned architects including, Rogers Stirk Harbour and
Partners, AHMM, Glen Howells and Fletcher Priest for a range of projects across
the capital.
First
Base is also a founding member of the UK Green Building Council. The Green
Building Council, launched in the Spring of 2007, aims to provide leadership
and cohesion to the UK Green building movement, provide a single, powerful
pan-industry voice to Government, facilitate knowledge sharing and spread best
practice and raise the international standing of UK industry.
For further
information please visit www.firstbase.com
English
Partnerships
English
Partnerships is the government's
national regeneration
agency delivering high quality, sustainable growth in England. We do this by developing our portfolio of strategic projects
and acting as the government's advisor on brownfield land. We also ensure
that surplus public sector
assets are used to support
wider government objectives, especially those contained in
the Sustainable Communities Plan. English Partnerships helps create communities where people can
afford to live and want to live. Information on projects and programmes can be found at www.englishpartnerships.co.uk
English Partnerships and the Housing Corporation are working
with the Department for Communities and Local Government to
establish the proposed new national housing and regeneration agency,
Communities England.
The London-Wide
Initiative pilot scheme was launched to fast-track more affordable homes in
Greater London. The scheme will focus on a portfolio of sites, selected as a
test-bed for introducing a range of new ideas for the delivery of homes. The
pilot scheme will deliver up to 4,500 homes over the next five years of which
around 1,500 will be affordable homes for key workers. Three development
partners have been selected to work in partnership with English Partnerships to
deliver homes through the London-Wide Initiative; First Base, Key London
Alliance and a consortium led by Countryside Properties plc.