McLaughlin led the panel at Place North West's recent Building Successful Communities event

Manchester Place boss returns to HCA

Deborah McLaughlin is moving back to her role as head of the North West team at the Homes & Communities Agency, after completing her one-year secondment as chief executive of housing catalyst Manchester Place.

McLaughlin was drafted in for 12 months to set up and drive the organisation, which is a collaboration between Manchester City Council and the HCA. It was launched in July 2014 with the aim of creating a pipeline of development-ready sites to help the city meet its target of creating 55,000 new homes by 2027.

There will no longer be a chief executive role at Manchester Place, but McLaughlin will now co-chair the board alongside Manchester City Council chief executive Sir Howard Bernstein.

So far there are currently sixteen sites supported by Manchester Place in the city centre delivering 2,303 new homes.

The developers of major new residential schemes at Little Peter Street and Angel Meadow are also expected to be announced next month.

Planning frameworks have been put in place for the growth areas in the city of Southern Gateway and emerging area of New Cross to assist landowners and developers understand the city’s aspirations for place making and quality.

Developers have also been supported to access the £300m GM Housing Fund with £66.3m already loaned to unlock more than 1,000 new homes.

McLaughlin said: “In a short space of time we have firmly established Manchester Place’s profile in the market and accelerated delivery of new and stalled housing schemes. We have made a strong start and attracted significant investment into residential development.

“As co-chair of the board I will continue to oversee the work of the team having established a new model for increasing the supply of high quality new housing and creating great new places to live.

“Promoting Manchester Place opportunities on an international stage has given me clear insight into investor requirements and I am confident that using this knowledge and expertise will help deliver inward investment to other parts of the North West.

“Going back to the HCA at this time is exciting with significant new funding and new programmes announced in the spending review. I will be working with the teams to turn these announcements into delivery on the ground across the whole region.”

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