Amphion members join forces for £500m deal for up to 3500 homes across London
Four housing associations have launched a joint bid to build up to 3500 off-site manufactured homes across London as part of a possible £500m deal with regeneration quango English Partnerships.

The deal would be one of the largest ever won by a consortium of housing associations.

It would be in response to EP's London-wide affordable housing initiative, launched on Wednesday but revealed by Housing Today six months ago (HT 10 October, page 7).

The bid is being led by Acton Housing Association, Metropolitan Housing Trust, Hyde Housing Association and Presentation Housing Association.

It could see up to £500m invested in land and construction by the regeneration quango.

The partners are all members of the Amphion consortium, which has been working for four years to develop a credible off-site manufacturing supplier in the UK.

However, the group said it would not restrict itself to the timber-frame OSM systems supplied by Kier to Amphion members.

Mike Kirk, London development director for Hyde Housing Association, said the associations had joined forces to respond to EP's advertisement, expected to appear in the European Union's Official Journal in April.

The partners are tendering for a commercial housebuilder to participate in the venture.

Kirk said: "What's important here is that we don't get a relationship with a developer that is based on the traditional section 106 model [in which a developer provides social housing in return for being granted planning permission].

"We're looking for a true joint venture with a developer committed to high eco-standards and innovative construction methods.

"The current Housing Corporation programme is not delivering the scale or volume we need to make OSM economical, so we're looking to alternative initiatives."

John Lewis, EP's director of strategic joint ventures division, said the quango planned to spend £150m buying 15 sites in London to build the 3500 homes – 2000 of them affordable.

The acquisitions would be complete by May. Four are already signed, 11 more in the pipeline.

EP hopes to appoint "two to three" development partners by the end of the year.