PODCAST | Scheming with Ben Denton
The chief executive of L&G Affordable Homes chatted with Place North West about working on the Olympic Village ahead of the London 2012 games and whether “affordable” housing really is affordable.
Ben Denton, who has dedicated much of his career to the affordable housing sector, discussed overcoming planning hurdles in to deliver a net-zero housing scheme in Thundersley, a 44-storey tower in Elephant and Castle that never was, and his dream of delivering affordable housing in Manchester’s urban areas.
Scheming is a Place North podcast series that provides some of the biggest names in property the chance to talk about three schemes they think about a lot:
- The one they are most proud of
- The one that got away
- Their dream scheme
Denton also shared his views on how the government has performed against its aims of addressing the housing crisis.
“It is a big old task to move from 150,000 homes a year [to more than 300,000]. This government has started to unburden the process of delivering homes,” he said.
“It is absolutely right to set an ambitious target. Unless you have something ambitious to aim for people won’t necessarily align with the direction of the ambition.”
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