‘Be brave and be ambitious’ | Q&A with Pat Ritchie and Simon Century

The investor, developer, and the government’s newly launched housing investment agency will work with Homes England to deliver up to 3,300 rental homes across towns and cities in the UK.

Speaking at the launch event in London, Homes England made the case for partners to come on board and bolster the £16bn of public funding available for housing delivery, which chair Pat Ritchie described as a “generational step change” for the sector.

Headquartered in Leeds, the public financial institution will provide flexible capital to housebuilders, developers, and registered providers to support the delivery of more than 500,000 homes.

Metro Riverside will be built on 525 acres of brownfield land around the shopping centre, with estimates saying it could more than double the estate’s economic contribution to around £2bn a year by 2045. 

The opening of Bedlington Station concludes the £338m first stage of the publicly funded project, with proposals being formulated to extend the scheme further north over the coming years into Woodhorn and Newbiggin. 

Due to launch in the next few weeks, the Growth and Housing Accelerator Fund will provide local authorities with cash to build the transport infrastructure required to deliver previously unviable housing and commercial projects.

Approval is recommended as North Tyneside Council considers Shepherd Offshore’s application for an £8.5m educational facility aimed at boosting the region’s credentials as a green energy hotspot.

The energy firm has set out proposals for the first phase of a UK-wide hydrogen transmission network, outlining plans to develop more than 300 miles of pipeline connecting key industrial regions Teesside, Yorkshire, and the East Midlands. 

The move is aimed at kickstarting the next wave of project development, with potential to generate billions in investment and 25,000 jobs.