£100m to help small building firms restart developments

More than £100m is being made available to help smaller building firms restart stalled housing developments.

The money is on offer through the Get Britain Building fund, which was introduced last year to help firms resume work on projects that had ground to a halt through lack of funding.

Previously, firms had to have plans for at least 25 homes on their sites to qualify for the funding. Now the limit has been lowered to 15 homes as a way of helping smaller firms. However, larger developers can still bid for the money which is expected to help deliver up to 2,000 homes.

The fund was over-subscribed when it was first introduced but many developers then found they could continue their projects without any extra help. This freed up the money that is now being made available again.

Housing Minister Grant Shapps said: “”By spreading the net wider and boosting the number of eligible sites we can offer more help to builders both large and small.”

The fund is administered by the Homes and Communities Agency, which assesses applications. It says all projects are assessed on a level playing field, regardless of the size of the firm. The deadline for applications is 25th July.

Please contact Eugene Pritchard if you would like information on any of the legal aspects of property development.