“We need to build 2000 homes in the next 5 years.”
When I am talking to Local Authorities across London about their targets and needs these are the type of figures they are wrestling with, and sometimes the numbers can be much higher. Right now, housing starts and completions are in the property and construction press, and in the mainstream press with regular announcements of new commitments, promises of new funding and also criticism of under delivery.
The Mayor’s target of 65,000 homes in London per year with 50% affordable presents an excellent target but can also be very challenging for Councils to respond to and achieve.
With huge numbers on waiting lists and in temporary housing, addressing the accommodation needs of Londoners seems to be one of the hottest subjects in town. With Councils under pressure from all sides to deliver more and spend less, getting a housing scheme from a strategic plan, through to site and then occupied by residents can take years.
So after a Council has; identified a need, found a suitable site, procured the site if necessary, engaged with planning, and the local community, applied for grants, dealt with the GLA and government compliance rules, agreed a workable tenure mix; only then may they actually have some head space to start thinking how best to procure and build the scheme that they may already have put years of work into.
It is at this point that Wates Residential can assist and lift some of the burden in turning an outline business case into a developed proposal. The team has huge experience in delivering residential schemes of all types across London and beyond from 40 storey high rises to more suburban schemes of 2 & 3 storeys, and with numbers of units from 30 – 300.
One quick and easy way to engage with our team of experts is through the Scape Framework. Through this public sector framework Clients can engage Wates Residential quickly on any scheme valued £10m to £50m throughout the UK. Scape can provide lots of the social value benefits that Local Authorities are looking for such as local employment and utilisation of local supply chains and SME’s. For myself, the biggest benefit and USP for engaging Wates via Scape is the speed that we can commence plus the free of charge feasibility service we can offer. We can have a discussion one day and commence a feasibility the following week. The aims of the feasibility can be tailored to the project or the Client needs, and its overall goal is to provide a proposal with professional advice on the costs, programme, buildability, design and risks associated with a project. This provides a clear base line for Officers to confirm funding requirements to Councillors and provides a clear route map of the next steps for moving the scheme forward.
Wates Residential is currently in different stages of design development and pre-construction with four London Boroughs via the Scape procurement route, for housing schemes which together have the potential to provide over 500 homes for Londoners.
As I’ve mentioned already, increasingly we are supporting clients with actions and ways to get housing projects delivered at pace. As our success increases, I’m getting some positive feedback about our proactive and honest approach which enables projects to progress. If you have schemes you want to get moving in 2020, feel free to contact me if you want some advice and a chat over a coffee. I’m happy to share our lessons learned and introduce you to the Residential team so that we can work together to deliver the homes Londoners needs.
Alex Jefferson, Regional Business Director, Scape South East
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Alan White
How did you get into construction? My Journalism degree got me my first job at Wates in 2010, when I joined the North West’s work-winning team. I soon moved into a business development role, moving around the business to gain experience in Construction, Smartspace and now the Scape team.
What do you enjoy most about your current role? I love speaking to customers. This gives me the chance to learn how the public sector is developing and regenerating our towns and cities, and it’s hugely rewarding to offer solutions to help them achieve this. Meeting new people and developing existing relationships is the best part of my job.
What are you most proud of? Professionally, identifying customer problems and collectively solving them is very fulfilling, for example reducing the proposed cost of a new leisure centre by 25% in six weeks. Personally, I’m not ashamed to say that I’m immensely proud of some of my achievements as a competitive runner in recent years.
Dom Somerville
How did you get into construction? I went to an Architecture fair when I was 14 and was really interested in how buildings were designed. It inspired me to want to become an Architect!
What do you enjoy most about your current role? The variety of work we do across multiple construction sectors from schools, to offices, to leisure centres, to working with the MoD – no 2 weeks are ever the same.
What are you most proud of? Schemes where clients have come to Wates with a specific requirement and need and where we have put together teams to respond and deliver often beyond what that customer ever expected.
Alistair McCallum
How did you get into construction? Simply I answered an advert from a PQS company in Solihull. I wanted a varied career that was neither a desk job nor working outside all the time. I also wanted a career that saw me working with a variety of people. I also like ‘building things’ and seeing something that I’ve had a part in creating.
What do you enjoy most about your current role? I most enjoy the diversity in my role, how every day is different. I can be in an interview one day selling the benefits of Wates and Scape to a customer, to chatting with existing customers to find solutions to complex problems to organising and presenting at careers events in schools and colleges. Also, being part of a team that strives to be a force for good and a catalyst for positive change. Moving forward within a team in the pursuit of excellence is incredibly rewarding, where new, fresh ideas are encouraged and embraced and can make it to strategy or policy within the business.
What are you most proud of? I’m lucky enough to be part of the team that won a place on a Scape regional framework, not once but twice. And in doing so being the enabler to expand the Wates business into the East Midlands. I’m also incredibly proud of being one of the team members who won the interview securing the Aquatics Centre for the commonwealth games. Finally, the work we do in supporting reshaping tomorrow including raising the profile of Social Enterprises to customers, careers events with pupils and tree planting in Markfield as part of planting 15,000 trees by 2021.
Helen Drennan
How did you get into construction? By default! I met a Director from a construction business whilst studying for my CIM Diploma and he convinced me to apply for a vacancy at the company he was working for. That was almost 25 years ago, and I’ve been working in the industry ever since.
What do you enjoy most about your current role? The diversity – every day is different. I also love being customer facing and continually meeting new people.
What are you most proud of? My family. My kids are both pursuing their own career goals now. I hope I’ve managed to inspire them to aim high and give it their all.
Alex Jefferson
How did you get into construction? I wanted a job with variety after finishing school and felt that a career in construction could offer me that. After completing a degree in Civil Engineering, I started on sites in London as a Site Engineer. I have since moved through Project Management, Bid and Pre-construction roles and have certainly found the variety that I was after.
What do you enjoy most about your current role? I enjoy meeting new Clients, being able to offer solutions to their challenges and ultimately seeing a construction project through its whole cycle from inception to completion and occupation by its users.
What are you most proud of? I really enjoy being able to pass by buildings that I was involved with from years ago, see how they have integrated into their surroundings and how they are used now by their users. Some of the buildings are getting older, but I am pleased that I am not quite old enough to have had one of my projects demolished yet!