Great Places secures £40m funding

The housing association and its partners have secured funding to build over 1,751 homes across the North West and south Yorkshire.

Funding was guaranteed following the confirmation of the Homes & Communities Agency's allocations for its Affordable Homes Programme.

Great Places submitted a partnership bid to the HCA for grants to build new homes available for both affordable home ownership and affordable rent.

Leading the Bloc Partnership, which includes 15 other housing associations, Great Places secured £40m to build 1,751 homes over the next four years across Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Lancashire, Merseyside and south Yorkshire.

The HCA launched its £1.8bn investment programme in February and allocated £188.2m to the North West, which will help to build more than 9,311 new homes.

Great Places is one of the first landlords in the North West to sign up to the programme which is set to deliver 80,000 new affordable homes across England by 2015.

Stephen Porter, chief executive, said: "Our allocation is once again one of the very largest in the north. It will allow us to fulfil the need for quality affordable housing and provide people with real homes for the future.

"To receive such large grants shows the high regard Great Places is held in by the HCA. For Great Places this is fabulous news and will help us continue to grow and be successful in this difficult economic climate."

Deborah McLaughlin, executive director for the North West at the HCA, added: "This agreement is one of the most important for the North West to come out of the Affordable Homes Programme and will have a great impact on local communities across the North West.

"Our local teams have worked closely with Great Places over recent months to ensure that its programme brings the maximum benefit for local people. I now look forward to seeing work start on the ground and I'm sure that local people feel the same."

The Bloc Partnership comprises developer housing associations, primarily operational in the North West and also in south Yorkshire including:

• Adactus Housing Group
• Adactus Housing Association
• Beech Housing Association
• Cube Lifestyle
• Dane Housing, Congleton
• Dane Partnership Homes
• Great Places Housing Group
• Mosscare Developments
• Mossbank Homes
• Mosscare Housing
• Pendleton Improved Housing Association
• Space New Living
• Terra Nova Developments
• Windmill Housing Association
• Wirral Methodists Housing Association