VIDEO | How can SMEs have a bigger impact on housing delivery?

In a housing market dominated by a few big players, SMEs can play a crucial role in providing “soulful development” that meets the needs of local communities if given the chance, according to participants at a roundtable hosted by VM Finance.

You can hear our panellists’ main takeaways from the conversation in the video at the top of this article.

From a sluggish planning system to constrained viability, this roundtable discussed the barriers facing SME housebuilders and asked what needs to change in order to give them more influence to shape the future of the nation’s housebuilding agenda.

Participants  

Andrew Evans, deputy chief executive, VM Finance 

Phil Cooper, director, Hope Architects 

Gillian Worden, director, Focus Planning

Alexander Maynard, delivery director, GMCA 

James Woodmansee, board development director, PJ Livesey 

Tess Cook, director, RJP Town Planning 

Michael Wedderburn, construction and development director, Chambers Capital 

George MacMillan, partner, Kuits Solicitors 

Peter Jackson, managing director of housing partnerships, Seddon 

Chaired by Dan Whelan, deputy editor, Place North West 

Key talking points  

The proportion of the new homes delivered in the UK by SME housebuilders has decreased significantly in recent decades. If consumers are to be given a broader range of choices of places to live, this needs to be reversed. 

Backlogs, a lack of funding, and a dearth of resources within the planning system impact more harshly on SME’s than larger volume housebuilders but the planning system is by no means the only challenge they face. 

More inventive thinking is required when it comes to developing smaller sites and SME’s are best-placed to unlock them. 

For more from this roundtable discussion, you can simply watch the video at the top of this article or on the Place North West YouTube channel.  Learn more about VM Finance by visiting vmfinanceltd.com.

VM Finance

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