Hyde Housing Association HAS brought its housebuilding operations under one roof on Monday with the launch of Inplace.
Hyde has set aside £10m to fund Inplace's first year and aims to expand its development programme by 200 homes to 500 in that time.

Inplace combines businesses that build homes for the open market and for key workers. Executive director Adrian Grover said: "We're targeting people in their 20s or early 30s and are trying to fill the gap between traditional social housing and private housing, which is spiralling out of reach." Inplace is working on schemes with NHS Estates and will sell homes on the open market to cross-subsidise those for sub-market rent by key workers.

Inplace has seven staff to begin with and will use Hyde's regional housing management teams while establishing its own specialist team, to be based in London, Hyde's home.

The launch follows moves by the Housing Corporation to make it easier for housing associations to develop housing for market rent without having to set up a separate body (HT 7 November, page 7).