House builder starts work on £137m 600-home development

Chesterfield-headquartered Avant Homes said it would also make a community contribution of around £3.8m “to support local primary and secondary education, a sustainable travel plan and open green space”.

Richard Hosie, managing director of Avant Homes, said: “There’s high demand in Edenthorpe for new homes which appeal to a diverse range of prospective buyers, due to the area’s proximity to amenities, transport links and Doncaster city centre.

“We are now well underway building a range of multi-tenure homes that are ideal for all types of buyers, whether first time, second steppers, families or downsizers, and are busily creating a new community within Edenthorpe.”

Doncaster is one of several cities in the region due to benefit from a drive to increase affordable housing under the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority’s strategic partnership with Homes England.

The two organisations signed a memorandum of understanding earlier this year to enter into a strategic place partnership, which is also set to help Barnsley, Rotherham and Sheffield develop more affordable homes.

Inside Housing reported earlier that house builders are looking to set up their own for-profit registered providers.

Developers are exploring entering the affordable housing sector, as they struggle to find housing association partners for the Section 106 elements of their sites.

Creating for-profit registered providers would mean house builders own and manage the affordable housing on their schemes, allowing them to progress through the planning process. It also allows developers access to a growing pool of private capital that wants to enter the affordable housing market.

James Bailey, director and housing leader at PwC UK, said the large professional services firm was “seeing an increase in the number of house builders and developers looking to set up their own for-profit registered providers”.