Trio of schemes in line for share of £40m
The Greater Manchester Combined Authority is to sign off loans for Northstone projects in Bolton and Wigan totalling 373 homes, as well as £21.5m to the joint venture delivering the residential element of the £120m Stockport Interchange.
The loans are to be awarded through the GMCA’s Greater Manchester Housing Investments Loan Fund.
Northstone, the housebuilding arm of Peel L&P, is to benefit from loans of £10.8m and £6.8m for two Greater Manchester projects.
The larger loan would go towards the creation of 268 homes at Pemberton Colliery, while the smaller tranche of funding would be used to develop 105 homes at Garnet Fold in Wigan.
Northstone won approval for the projects last month and in March respectively.
Cityheart and Rise are delivering almost 200 homes in Stockport. Credit: via planning documents
Meanwhile, the £21.5m loan to Rise Homes and Cityheart, the consortium delivering 196 apartments in Stockport, is also due to be rubber stamped.
The project is part of the wider redevelopment of Stockport bus station. The bus station has now relocated to a temporary location paving the way for contractor Willmott Dixon to start on site.
The loan was due to be approved last month but the meeting was cancelled following the death of Bolton Council leader David Greenhalgh.
This is the second time the development venture has gone to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority for funding, having sought a £9.3m equity investment for the Stockport project in June.
Subject to the approval of the three loans, the total amount given through the GM Housing Investments Loan Fund will reach almost £550m.
Valued at £300m when it was established, the housing fund is now worth almost double that as interest paid on loans is funnelled back into the pot.
Last December, the combined authority agreed loans of £37.5m and £32.4m from the fund to support the development of almost 1,000 apartments across two Renaker schemes, Colliers Yard and Blade.
- Hear more from Northstone at Place RESI on 16 September
It amazes me that the GMCA’s Housing Investments Loan Fund lends such amounts to businesses which are part of the likes of Peel, i.e., huge corporations that surely don’t need funding from a fund that should be used to support smaller housebuilding businesses, in order that the wealth can be shared.
By Anon