Posted on July 14, 2022

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) last week announced the second round of the Brownfield Land Release Fund (BLRF) – inviting Councils to submit bids with immediate effect.
 
The fund intends to enable construction of over 17,000 new homes with £180m up for grabs – building on the successes of the initial £77m fund.
 
The brownfield housing fund is an important opportunity for both central and local government to boost housing development without encroaching on contentious greenfield sites and will play a crucial role in the regeneration of urban centres. But what key factors should applicants consider?
 
The main critical success factor is timescale and delivery - for instance whether planning permission is secured and what are the lead in times for start on site. Most of the current central government funding streams are seeking outputs within the lifetime of this parliament which means time is already tight!
 
Another key aspect is value for money; how this will be achieved is important. Therefore, considering how competitive processes can be entered into to show that costs are being competitively tendered will be crucial. Equally, compliance with policy (delivery of affordable housing in particular) will also inform value for money. This is not be confused with the amount of ‘ask’ from the fund – but what benefits are being realised from the investment being made.
 
We are often also called upon to prepare evidenced based market reports and financial modelling to support the commercial and financial cases, as well as identifying the market failures at play.
 
Projects on brownfield land which are well progressed in terms of design and planning are well placed. Of course, having specific identified constraints which are related to the ‘brownfield’ tag will be important. 
 
AspinallVerdi has worked with a range of local authorities, developers and Combined Authority clients to develop effective business cases which can enable the drawing down of funding from a range of pots including the BLRF. 

More information on our public sector funding and business case services can be found here.