Two new Government initiatives, the Levelling Up Home Fund and the Help to Build scheme, encourage innovation and offer support to companies building the UK’s homes.
The recently published Levelling Up White Paper included a new £1.5 billion Levelling Up Home Build Fund from Homes England, which offers finance for SMEs, ‘innovative’ developers and housebuilders. Applications are now open, and loans start from £250,000, ranging up to £250 million. Although smaller loans will be considered for projects that feature innovative housing solutions. Eligible schemes must be financially viable, provide at least 5 homes and would stall without the money.
This is a new avenue for financing the SME housebuilders who deliver the nation’s self-build homes. In the UK, around 13,000 houses are self-built each year. Self builds can be preferable to buying a new or existing property because self or custom builders can ensure the quality and longevity of their future home. This is one of the reasons behind government efforts to scale up the self-build market.
Additional stimulus for the self-build market came as the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities launched the national Help to Build scheme in November 2021. Availability of mortgage finance is one of the main barriers to growth for the market. The scheme offers government equity loans of up to 20% of build costs for people looking to build their own homes, rising to 40% in London. If eligible, self-builders can spend up to £600,000 on their project.
Traditional masonry builds are known for their longevity and aircrete is the perfect medium for people wanting to build their own home. Not only does it meet stringent Building Regulations, but H+H aircrete products have excellent thermal, acoustic and load bearing capabilities.
For the SME housebuilder, H+H developed the popular Thin-Joint Package Sale, which offers a simple, efficient method of procurement that is also ideally suited to the self-build market. Once provided with appropriate drawings, H+H calculates a “fixed” price to supply a package of materials for a project that will be delivered directly to the site.
H+H offer simple solutions that complement government efforts to support SMEs and self-builders. We simplify the procurement process for SME builders and our aircrete products help to create long-lasting new masonry homes.
To find out more about the H+H Package Sale method, click here.