Barnet Council starts work on 217 affordable homes in partnership with Sage Homes

Barnet Council Leader Cllr Barry Rawlings led a visit with project partners in Hendon on Tuesday 12 July to celebrate work starting on an innovative, co-designed housing scheme delivering 217 new affordable homes, including 75 extra-care homes.

As part of the project, Barnet Council has entered into a partnership with Sage Homes, England’s largest provider of newly built affordable housing in 2021, to ensure 100% of the new homes within the scheme on the Upper and Lower Fosters estate were affordable.  

Originally, only 111 (75 extra-care and 36 general needs) of the 217 homes had been designated as affordable. To increase that number and ensure the whole scheme was designated as affordable, Sage Homes invested over £46m in the scheme and worked with the council to jointly secure £7m of GLA grant. 

The Barnet Group, which manages homes on behalf of Barnet Council, will continue to manage the entire estate, including the 217 new affordable homes. Of these, 60 will be let at London Affordable Rent for people on the council’s housing register. Sage Homes will sell 82 shared ownership homes to part-rent part-buy customers in the local area who cannot afford to buy on the open market. The Barnet Group will also own and manage the remaining 75 affordable extra-care homes being built on the neighbouring former Cheshir House site.

The affordable homes scheme was designed in collaboration with residents, neighbours and local community organisations, who were consulted throughout the process and central to the agreed design.

The project is designed to enhance the community with the buildings arranged to ensure that the open, leafy character of the estate is retained and gardens and communal open space are introduced.

Cllr Barry Rawlings, Leader of Barnet Council, said: “The Fosters Estate is one part of Barnet borough’s ambitious housing delivery programme – the largest in the capital. We are building for and with our residents, respectful of our communities and proud of our heritage. To achieve this, we know we must work in partnership with residents, whether that’s on community-led regeneration, or co-design of local services, to deliver new affordable homes, new facilities, public spaces and places to be enjoyed by all.”

Tim Mulvenna, CEO of The Barnet Group, said: “We’re delighted to be working with Barnet Council, the GLA and Sage Homes and Hill to be delivering much-needed high quality homes in Barnet. We have worked closely with existing residents on the estate to co-design the new homes, strengthening the community ties and enhancing the surrounding areas. This project further strengthens our home-building credentials.”

Simon Trice, Managing Director of The Hill Group, said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with Barnet Homes to deliver these much needed affordable homes. We have extensive experience working in partnership to ensure the effective delivery of community-led estate regeneration projects and are looking forward to utilising our skills to create high quality homes that benefit the local community for many generations.”

Mark Sater, CEO of Sage Homes, said:  “Thanks to our innovative partnership with Barnet Council and a significant grant from the GLA, 100% of these homes will now be affordable. This project is a great example of the private and public sectors working closely together to deliver affordable homes that will benefit the local community.”