Meet the team

West Hendon Regeneration Team

The Regeneration Team, part of the wider construction team at West Hendon, are responsible for ensuring a smooth partnership with council, residents and stakeholders, to name a few, at the complex regeneration project in London. Headed up by Danny Farenden (Project Director), the team consists of Nathan Smith (Senior Project Manager), and Eric Holroyd (Regeneration Surveyor).

West Hendon Regeneration Team

Foundations caught up with the team to find out more about the project. What is the West Hendon development? At West Hendon, we’ve formed a joint venture partnership to deliver more than 2,000 new homes over the next ten years. The work involves demolishing over 650 existing homes on a 1960s dilapidated council estate and replacing them with a vibrant community of homes and shops, as well as new education and leisure spaces, a primary school, a community centre and a small health centre. Over 500 affordable homes are also being built, many of which are for the existing residents of the West Hendon estate.

What are your responsibilities? As the Regeneration Team, we’ve a wide variety of responsibilities, from securing compulsory purchase orders and buying existing leasehold flats and commercial premises, to drawing land down from the local authority and securing vacant possession of existing residential blocks. We’re also responsible for managing the principal development agreement between Barratt London, its JV partner, and Barnet Council as well as resident and stakeholder liaisons, to name a few.

Over 500 affordable homes are also being built, many of which are for the existing residents of the West Hendon estate.

What are the challenges? When you take on a complex regeneration project there can often be a lack of trust between the developer and the existing community, and it’s been a big challenge for us to build that trust. However, we’re now three years into the development, and existing residents are excited about moving into to their new homes and seeing the project come to life as each phase completes. Having people live so close to a busy construction site is also a challenge in its own right. We manage this by sending out regular newsletters, hosting a project website with up to date information, ensuring residents know who to call if they have a problem, and holding a monthly open meeting where residents can raise any concerns they have. We make a concerted effort to engage with the local community and support a number of initiatives each year such as resident fun days, summer BBQs, Christmas parties, educational initiatives with schools, and sponsoring an annual day trip away from the construction works to the seaside. What’s next for the project? We’re currently building two phases concurrently and are in the ground on both sites so there is lots of excavation and foundation activity. Completions for new homes start next spring, alongside six brand new retail spaces. Looking slightly further ahead, we need to finish buying up around 40 leasehold flats with a view to making way for the next phase of construction. In around five years’ time the new school and community centre will be built and we’ll be finishing the final homes of the project in 2027.

West Hendon, London