TEES Valley social housing group Fabrick has turned over £52m in less than a year and begun construction on £20m of new homes.
Bosses claimed Government-backed affordable homes initiatives such as shared ownership and mortgage rescue schemes for first-time buyers were helping the market and giving a much needed boost to local contractors who have seen their private sector business slashed.
The Fabrick group was awarded £13m through the National Affordable Homes Programme to help create quality communities within reach of low income families.
“We are in fantastic shape at the moment and are feeling positive in a negative world,” said Martin Hawthorne, director of development and regeneration.
“We are focused on building affordable houses for the whole community, and helping people who are not in a position to buy straight away because it’s become more difficult to get mortgages.
“The Government is putting a massive amount of effort and resource into getting the building industry up and running again. We are working closely with local authorities and the Homes and Communities Agency to determine where the areas of greatest pressure and opportunities are.”
One local company to benefit is Billingham-based AAG Swepco, a sub-contractor which supplies and installs renewable energy equipment from solar panels to air and ground source heat pumps. It has seen work from private developers drop off significantly.
Susan O’Hara, business development manager, said: “At the moment, most of our work is with the public sector - social housing and primary schools.
“We’re currently working with four local authorities all over the UK, but only about 20% of our work comes from private developers. They just don’t have the money to spend at the moment.”
A strong environmental policy also underpinned Fabrick’s work, Mr Hawthorne added.
The company has already adopted Level Three of the Code for Sustainable Homes, which becomes mandatory for developers later this year.
The code is a six-tier system which will move the UK towards no-carbon development. The Government’s aim is for every new build to be Level Six - which is carbon neutral - by 2016.
“We use renewable technologies like ground source heat pumps in our properties, which can save on energy,” said Mr Hawthorne. “If we can save our customers money on their fuel bills then we see that as a good thing.”
The Fabrick Group began operating in April last year, overseeing the business of Erimus Housing and Tees Valley Housing which own around 11,000 and 4,000 properties respectively.
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