A Northern housebuilding consortium has notched up the delivery of 10,000 homes with the redevelopment of a building immortalised in a Beatles song.
JV North hit the staggering milestone with its redevelopment of the Liverpool fire station, which featured in the Fab Four’s classic hit, Penny Lane.
The Station Mews scheme delivered by consortium member Torus also saw JV North pass the £1bn investment mark in partnership with Homes England.
Made up of North West-based housing associations and local authorities, the organisation says its development work has now seen 30,000 people receive new homes.
John Bowker, chair of JV North, and executive director of operations at Stockport Homes, said: “The cost of living crisis and a growing, ageing population means providing warm, efficient, high-quality affordable homes is more important than ever.
“JV North members can rightly feel a great sense of achievement at reaching such significant milestones – most importantly enabling 30,000 residents to have a place to proudly call home.
“It has been possible due to members having ambition and a big appetite to build, coupled with fantastic long-term support from partners in particular Homes England as well as contractors and consultants on our framework.
“We continue to nurture these relationships to put us in a prime position to deliver even more homes in the future; evidence of which can be seen in the 2021/26 Affordable Homes Programme that will see us build over 4,000 properties.”
Shahi Islam, director of affordable housing grants at Homes England, said: “As the government’s housing and regeneration agency, increasing the supply of quality affordable homes remains one of our key objectives and we are committed to supporting ambitious housebuilders of all sizes to build those homes and communities.
“This investment through the Affordable Homes Programme does just that, enabling JV North consortium members to deliver their 10,000th much needed new home the people of North West can be proud of.”
Steve Coffey, chief executive of JV North-member Torus, added: “The entire Torus Group is incredibly proud of what has been accomplished at Station Mews.
“Seeing modern, energy-efficient, affordable homes built in a key location and an iconic local landmark repurposed is just fantastic and testament to the partnerships that made it possible.
“Our standing as a JV North member very much helped unlock this site and the £1.7m provided to the scheme by Homes England ensures these much-loved buildings continue to contribute to the community of Allerton and of course, Penny Lane.”
Song of home
JV North was founded by five organisations and has grown to 12 members that recognise the benefits of economies of scale when bidding for Homes England grant, accessing the consortium’s £560m framework, piloting innovation and sharing intelligence, market data and risk.
To mark the milestones, JV North held an event at Station Mews with members and stakeholders invited to see the new development and take part in a roundtable debate on the future of social housebuilding.
Penny Lane – written by Paul McCartney about his childhood memories in Allerton – refers to the fabled fireman based at the local fire station.
It includes the lines: “In Penny Lane there is a fireman with an hourglass and in his pocket is a portrait of the queen; he likes to keep his fire engine clean, it’s a clean machine”, and: “Penny Lane, the barber shaves another customer, we see the banker sitting waiting for a trim; then the fireman rushes in from the pouring rain – very strange”.
Main image: JV North members and stakeholders outside Station Mews
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