A Developers Perspective When asked to do this presentation I wondered how to approach it, and started by asking myself some fairly simple questions. Then set about answering those questions from our perspective. Every developer, every builder, may have a different outlook but for us the WMCA and the Land Commission can provide a fabulous opportunity. Something that’s not been done before in any volume in the Midlands. A new(ish) approach

The first question I asked myself was: ‘What does the WMCA mean to us The first question I asked myself was: ‘What does the WMCA mean to us?’ ‘ What could it do?’ I recently met with a number of people from a broad spectrum of different organisations and disciplines. Common theme – we are struggling to meet the needs and demands of the housing market. Not meeting people’s and Councils needs in terms of new housing. Not aimed as a criticism of the industry, but a critical observation. Provides opportunity to meet those needs. The challenges are different than ever before. There are different needs and at the industry is not rising to meet them. Nothing has changed with our delivery in housing. Still build the same way we did, we still procure the same way we did. So it was suggested that collectively we are not meeting those challenges and not solving the needs of the market and Local Authorities. Housing Plans are falling short (BCC are falling short of 40,000 plus homes in their plan – a challenge that the WMCA needs to help address.), the WMCA and the Land Commission can help address this. So to us, the WMCA means being in a better position to deliver against those needs. What are the challenges for us?

CHALLENGES I then asked myself ‘What are the main challenges for us? What obstacles and issues do we face every day and how we can those be helped?’ This should be easy. I should just say Planning. But that’s not the only challenge. One of them. Not the only one. Public Sector Speed, capacity and consistency. This isn’t just local authorities and planning, although this does apply to those. The speed of being able to get decisions, actions, sign-offs is a major frustration, although we all understand that the local authority world is very different now in terms of resource available. The ability of us to be able to build more housing is directly related to this speed and the capacity for LA’s and public bodies to do more, which is major challenge and concern for developers. Moving and inconsistent targets– affordable housing requirements, grant availability to name but two. Private Sector Capacity – there are lots of barriers. Resource on site, our own resource and sourcing that, values and making a site work; this isn’t the South East. We do have our own issues

High Expectations? Given those issues, what do we expect of the WMCA and the Land Commission? What can it do? We think that the WMCA needs to help to do things differently and encourage organisations to work much more closely. I referenced earlier a meeting that I had recently, more of a debating session really. While the common theme was about the struggle to meet the demands of todays housing market, there was also a recognition that the traditional way of doing things, of working between private and public sector isn’t going to help us achieve our goals. It will continue to deliver in the same way it has, but it was suggested that this wasn’t enough. So we expect the WMCA to help change that. But how can things be changed? Perhaps better co-ordination of infrastructure requirements. This might be physical, might be social infrastructure but this can be help speed up delivery, it can help to clean up sites, to make sites more attractive and more developable. This could be potentially supported by the Housing Infrastructure Fund, although I think I’m right in saying that no one has seen the details of that just yet so it remains to be seen what that is actually going to provide for. The CA can help when it comes to strategic sites and the fast tracking of those – to identify, work on solutions to their problems and ultimately ensure that those sites are delivered, and as importantly, delivered in such a way that meets needs. We’ve got infrastructure opportunities within the Midlands that those strategic sites might be borne out of, HS2, that we would expect the Land Commission to focus on and be ‘aggressive’ in its approach to those opportunities to make sure that they happen. There are people far more qualified than I am to tell you about the opportunity that will arise from this, but there will be opportunity and the LC and CA should be making sure that the region is joined up in that respect, if maximum value is to be extracted. There is another point that for us, is close to our hearts. I mentioned earlier that I expect new ways of doing things and working closer with people. We think that we’ve now got a great opportunity, through the Combined Authority, to break down some of the ‘old traditions’ – them and us. To try and remove the old fashioned suspicious tendencies between public and private. To encourage more open ways of working. Again, this is nothing new but is all too sadly lacking. There are probably a whole host of other things that we would expect but it’s a starter for ten.

How can we help? I was then asked the question, ‘WHAT CAN WE OFFER?’ So, to us the WMCA provides opportunity to do what we do best, to work in public-private partnership models. We think is invaluable in meeting housing needs. Of course, this is nothing new. It’s being happening for years, but could it be better?

Why do we think this? Why do we think this might help to be a solution? We genuinely think that this can help to increase capacity in the housing market. And no, as mentioned it’s nothing new but it can go further to see the full benefits. It can help to unlock difficult, or otherwise unattractive sites. Can ensure a speedier delivery. Can deliver for multi-tenures. Can help LA’s to secure a return which can be reinvested. What does it mean to us.

Knowledge It means that we can be more open. Share our experiences, share our knowledge, share our expertise. Why do we need to work in our silo’s? That’s not going to work. We can carry on doing the same things. What makes us think we can get different results. The market will remain the same and there will be certain needs that will continue not to be met. To us, we should be more open.

Long Term Partner Longevity is key for us. Pipeline of work can bring massive benefits. Cost efficiencies, investment, social value requirements, employment opportunities – all things that we could more and more of if we had that longevity and visibility.

Public / Private So to answer the question posed to me about what can we offer, what can we bring to the table, it’s this. That public/private is a win-win for everyone. Or it should be.