Levelling up has been all over the news since the Governments Levelling up white paper was released in February. The Levelling Up fund is set to provide £4billion of grant investment, mainly on the construction of new infrastructure such as bridges, new roads, ports, cycling lanes, town centre regeneration and more.
With the meaning behind Levelling up being ‘spreading opportunity’ across the UK, how can affordable housing play a part in achieving this ambition?
It is no secret that across the UK there is a housing crisis. Millions of people across the country are struggling to get access to good quality homes at an affordable price point. Price, quality, and poor space standards are all barriers for modern day homeowners and renters all looking to find a place to call home.
In fact, if we look to the public and ask what they would like to see prioritised as we ‘level up’ we can see that 70% of them say more affordable and better quality housing is the best way we can reduce inequality across the UK.
Affordable homes anchor local people to the places they want to live and ensures local communities can share the benefits these new levelling up projects will bring to these areas. As people start to re-evaluate where they live, combined with the new remote working freedom, the construction of housing across a range of tenures that considers place and sustainable development as well as both affordability and quality factors will be key to supporting the spread of opportunities away from our major cities.
Housing associations will play a key role in levelling up across the country as they work alongside communities, local authorities, central government, and Homes England.
The sectors activity needs to go beyond the provision of new homes but must also ensure these homes are constructed to a high quality, are thermally efficient, reduce fuel poverty and are delivered on time and within budgets in order to best serve our communities up and down the UK as well as meet public expectations.
How can AA Projects help?
Our team of senior housing specialists can provide a range of support through our Development Management, Sustainable Retrofit and Net Zero Carbon services as well as walk with you from the inception to completion of your projects with our bespoke Cost Management, Employers Agent, Health & Safety and Project Management teams.