City Hall developer to focus on joint ventures with builders

In Sadiq Khan’s re-election manifesto earlier this year, the London mayor committed to create “an expanded City Hall developer” to maximise housing delivery in the capital.

Mr Copley suggested that the project would follow the outline of a “helpful” report published in July by BusinessLDN and PwC, which suggested that a City Hall developer should initially focus on joint ventures to unblock difficult sites.

He said the GLA is exploring “a couple of opportunities” in this vein and that he hopes to announce more details by the end of the calendar year.

The City Hall developer will also focus on land assembly in its first incarnation. “I could see a big link in here with what the mayor is pledging around mayoral development corporations,” Mr Copley said.

He explained that Mr Khan had promised in his re-election manifesto to set up more mayoral development corporations to drive forward housing development, particularly in parts of London “where perhaps development is not at the level that it should be”.

“We’re actively exploring that, and I can see quite a lot of synergy between that and what we might do around a City Hall developer land assembly type-model,” Mr Copley added.

“In the future, what we’d like to explore more closely is getting even more involved in direct delivery,” he added.

In the first instance, however, “one big thing that the housing sector is crying out for at the moment is joint venture opportunities, risk sharing, which, of course, means the GLA sharing the rewards as well… That’s where I really think we can add value in terms of accelerating development”.

Asked if the GLA could look to emulate Homes England’s recently announced master developer partnership with Barratt and Lloyds Bank, Mr Copley said: “Absolutely”.

“We’re exploring all sorts of models, and the direction of travel is very much moving into that master development space.”

The GLA is already active in development joint ventures, such as Barking Riverside with L&Q and through Transport for London’s property company Places for London.

Inside Housing also asked Mr Copley about last year’s poor figures for GLA grant-funded affordable housing starts. Just 2,358 grant-funded affordable homes were started in the capital between April 2023 and March 2024, down 90% from the previous year.

The deputy mayor said that there was always a drop-off in starts between the end of one affordable homes programme and the start of a new one, but said delays from central government signing off the funding and the challenging economic climate had also had an impact.

However, Mr Copley said the GLA is “certainly looking at an increase in number of starts this year”, adding that starts “build up towards the last quarter”.

Asked about what developers need to make building in London more viable, Mr Copley said that interest rates hopefully coming down will make a difference.

He also said it was crucial to make sure the social housing sector is “capitalised enough to buy Section 106 units” and able to access funding for retrofit, decent homes and building safety.