Data

Cost model: Rural affordable homes

By Paul Houghton

Burnham Overy Staithe 2

Source: Paul Starr photographer

As people head for the countryside with the expansion of home-working, pressure on rural housing stock can only grow, including demand for affordable homes. Aecom’s Paul Houghton explains the specific challenges and opportunities of developing such provision and provides a cost breakdown of a typical scheme

01 / Introduction

The UK needs more homes, and not just in cities and towns. Rural affordable housing offers the chance to create thriving communities in underserved parts of the country. Yet rural schemes come with unique challenges, features and expectations compared with their urban counterparts. Developers are also charged with delivering high sustainability levels, in an environment of falling grant rates and shifting building regulations requirements.

Affordable housing encompasses a number of tenures. Broadly speaking, it is everything that is not for outright sale or private rent: such as general needs, affordable rent, social rent and shared ownership.

In England, on which this article is focused, the government’s Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) scheme is the primary source of funding for these homes. It is run by Homes England, which takes bids for funding from housing providers. The 2021-26 AHP scheme will provide nearly £12bn in grant funding to help meet the government’s target of building up to 180,000 new homes.

Read more…

This is PREMIUM content

available to Building Boardroom and Building subscribers only

You are not currently logged in. Building Boardroom Members and Subscribers may LOGIN here.

Become a Building Boardroom Member

Gated access promo

to read this report now, plus have unlimited access to:

  • Exclusive research and client insight to support your strategic planning
  • Benchmark reports, and proven tools to aid your business development
  • Attend bespoke community events…plus much more

Become a Building Boardroom Member

Alternatively…

Become a Building subscriber

to gain access to building.co.uk for the latest news, expert analysis & comment from industry leaders, plus data and research.

Already a Boardroom member? Log in here.