MORE UPFRONT FUNDING NEEDED TO HIT HOUSING TARGETS, SAYS BENTLEY

One of the main factors preventing the UK from delivering large-scale housing effectively is that housebuilders are not fully equipped to fulfil the role of ‘master developer’ due to lack of up-front funding, according to the managing director of one of the country’s leading project management consultancies.

Jonathon Bentley, who heads up Bentley Project Management, believes that most housebuilders aren’t inclined to invest in the infrastructure required to build out major urban extensions due to the high level of risk and the lack of immediate return-on-investment.

Bentley - whose company is currently working on schemes to deliver infrastructure for more than 35,000 new homes - says that this creates a huge obstacle that needs to be navigated and is a much bigger challenge than simply the much-maligned planning system.

“What we are seeing is that typically, housebuilders are looking towards smallscale schemes that can deliver a good return on investment fairly quickly,” said Bentley.

“However, when it comes to the kind of major schemes that we as a country need to hit housebuilding targets, the related infrastructure – and the upfront funding that is required – strangles the speed of development.