When the Government announced the First Homes policy, Pocket Living welcomed the ambition. The premise of the policy is identical to what we have been doing for years, namely opening up homeownership to young middle earners by selling at a discount.
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Pocket Living was delighted to receive planning permission from Haringey council last week, for our most ambitious scheme to date, West Green Place N17.
This allows us to deliver 98 Pocket homes, which will be available to local first time buyers at a 20% discount, establishing another strong community of owner occupiers. West Green Place will also include with a new community centre for the benefit of the whole local community .
Since January we have launched seven schemes across five boroughs and moved many city makers into their first homes. The Pocket team have been hard at work!
And we are absolutely thrilled to have been recognised for our contribution to affordable housing across London with these four awards:
Mountearl Gardens SW16 is another great example of the way Pocket Living brings architectural quality to areas of London popular with first time buyers. We’re really proud of our latest scheme which made creative use of this site set on the corner of the handsome estate off Leigham Court Road. Previously home to old garages, we worked with HKR Architects to create a building comprised of one, two and three storey blocks that optimises the site without compromising the views of existing residents.
The back of Western Road UB2 overlooking the garden
Our latest Pocket building on Western Road in the heart of Southall is complete with Pocket owners settled in and enjoying their homes. I am sure you will agree that this is one handsome building! There are 36 one bedroom homes at Western Road UB2, all sold for £165,000 and designed for us by the architectural practice JTP.
Being assembled this week are the lego-like units of our latest scheme in Lambeth, Mountearl Gardens SW16. These 32 homes in Streatham are replacing disused garages and will help local first time buyers get onto the property ladder.
On Tuesday night, a couple of lucky people from Pocket were in the front row for a debate by the London mayoral candidates entirely devoted to the subject of housing in the Capital. Mayoral hopeful Sadiq Khan launched his campaign by saying that the election in May was going to be “a referendum on housing” and from the level of engagement on Tuesday night – he was right. It was mentioned that previous Mayoral elections have been centred around the key issue of transport or policing and this vote will be defined by the candidate that reassures the electorate that they will make an impact on the housing crisis.
Related Companies makes a ground-breaking strategic investment in Pocket
We are extremely excited to announce that we have attracted a new investor to Pocket. This week we became equity partners with Related Companies, the largest owner and developer of affordable housing in the US. This strategic investment in Pocket is a trail-blazing deal as it brings investment from across the pond into the UK’s affordable housing market. Related have acquired a 50% stake in Pocket, and will be working with us to scale up our delivery of discounted flats for sale and rent in London.
So good they invested twice
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On track to deliver 127 new Pocket homes in Lambeth in 2016
It’s all happening in Lambeth! Having just started building our latest development Mountearl Gardens SW16 in Streatham, Pocket has this corner of London on the brain. One of the boroughs where city makers most want to buy their first home is Lambeth, and what’s not to like?! Lambeth stretches all the way from the River Thames (overlooking Westminster) through multicultural Brixton, down to leafy Streatham. There’s something for everyone, and we are underway with Pocket schemes dotted from the top of the borough to the bottom, between them delivering 127 affordable Pocket homes, most of them one bedroom.
Construction at Wynne Road SW9 is well underway, and having started last week on-site at Mountearl Gardens SW16 we are really excited about the innovative modular construction methods we’re using, working with Donban Contracting UK, to reduce construction times and improve economies of scale – getting these homes delivered sooner. Sail Street and Juxon Street are due to start construction January 2016, using this same innovative approach. Here’s a round-up of all our upcoming Lambeth schemes: