Best planning and land regeneration strategy

Winner

Berkeley Homes is undertaking regeneration projects on a large canvas. Think of Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth: 364 homes, 65 shops, 20 bars and restaurants, an 11-screen cinema and a bowling complex. Earlier this year the company announced that it was shifting its business focus away from suburban housing towards major urban regeneration projects. It already has more than 40 large development sites in the South of England, and 95% of its development is on brownfield land. “They have demonstrated they can deal with difficult sites and complex planning problems,” said the judges.

Finalists

Barratt’s crowning position as the country’s biggest housebuilder in terms of unit output relies on its innovation in acquiring land and achieving planning consents. Its performance is impressive: over the past year, it won planning consent for more than 21,000 plots. Barratt won praise from the judges for embracing the government’s agenda for urban regeneration, taking on more large-scale mixed-use, mixed-tenure projects.

Gillcrest Homes

For a small housebuilder Gillcrest can punch above its weight. It beat off competition from bigger players to win a mixed-use site with 300 homes at Buckland Mill, where it is working in joint venture with the South East of England Development Agency.

Miller Homes

Miller Homes made a record investment of £140m in land last year, to secure its long-term base. Among the major sites lining up for development is Telford College in Edinburgh, which is forecast to provide 700 units over the next decade. The company has 9400 plots in its landbank and a further 13,200 under option.

St James Homes

Berkeley Group’s St James offshoot was formed to exploit the potential of the redundant sites of Thames Water. More than 70% of the businesses’ land comes from this joint-venture partner, and that helps to give it a 100% brownfield landbank.

Sunderland Housing Group

Bringing existing social housing stock up to the government’s decent homes standard is a massive challenge and Sunderland Housing Group is innovating to do the job. Specifically, it has come up with a neighbourhood assessment matrix to help decide whether housing should be retained or redeveloped. The judges thought Sunderland’s approach deserved special praise. “The housing association stood out as doing regeneration in a tough physical and economic context,” they said.