Deborah Matthews, VP Product Management at MRI Software, responds to the announcement the government will provide councils in England with £68m to help build thousands of homes on disused brownfield sites.
With the Autumn budget fast approaching, all eyes will be on Labour to address the affordability and availability of social housing options.
It’s been announced today that councils are set to receive £68m to build thousands of homes on brownfield sites.
While this funding is considered a step forward, it is less than the previous £95m allocation, which supported the construction of around 6,800 homes.
This highlights the considerable gap between current funding and Labour’s ambitious target to build 1.5 million new homes over the next five years.
Pre-election, MRI Software’s Managing Director for Social Housing, Deborah Matthews, had highlighted the importance of government support for housing policies that address the affordability and availability crisis, and ultimately benefit people’s wellbeing as well as overall economic stability.
As this project gets underway, it will be important for property developers and construction firms to prioritise the implementation of sustainable and cost-efficient technologies to ensure the delivery of these homes.
Brownfield sites are renowned for the challenges they tend to bring and having access to meaningful data analytics to understand the sites fully can support in streamlining decision-making processes and identify the best approach for site development.
In the face of the housing crisis, property developers must embrace a tech-forward mindset to meet demand, overcome the hurdles of brownfield construction, and deliver on the promise of affordable, high-quality housing.
