Vetted Gateway builder list planned

Ben Walker, Regeneration & Renewal, 11 May 2007

The commission into the design of affordable housing in the Gateway will launch its findings next week. But a source close to the commission has told Regeneration & Renewal of plans to draw up an approved list of developers who would be tasked with building all affordable housing in the Gateway.

To get onto the list, developers, ideally partnered by an architect, would be asked to prove to a panel of design experts that they have a track record of building well-designed housing.

If accepted, they would become certified as a gold standard developer and placed on the potentially lucrative elite list. "We need to back the good guys," said a source close to the commission. "Registered social landlords and builders have basically been saying: 'Architects need not apply.' Now we are saying to architects: 'Come on down'."

A "three strikes and you're out" policy would see gold standard developers that build a trio of below-par schemes kicked off the list and excluded from Gateway social housing contracts, the source said.

The gold standard policy is part of a package of reforms contained in the review, designed to beef-up the quality of social housing in the Gateway. The concept, which the source said had senior backing within the corporation, was developed after researchers working on the review uncovered evidence that the section 106 system, under which builders agree to construct social housing and other public infrastructure in return for planning permission, is "open to abuse".

Currently, a waiver system operates whereby developers are able to state reasons - while building schemes are under way - to excuse them from building to the minimum design standards to which they have already agreed. "We are saying [to the corporation]: stop being so indulgent to the private sector on their 106 cock-ups," the source said.

Housing Corporation chief executive Steve Douglas said: "We have a fantastic track record, but we realise there's more we can do."