Mayor selects housing association and partnerships housebuilder for scheme on former police training centre site
Optivo and Countryside have been selected to build an 873-home scheme on the site of a former police training centre and driving school in Colindale, north London.
The Greater London Authority (GLA) and the Mayor’s Office of Policing and Crime (MOPAC) selected the pair following a bid through City Hall’s London Development Panel framework.
Under the deal 45,000-home housing association Optivo will buy the land as part of the deal and then deliver it through a joint venture with partnerships housebuilder Countryside.
Six in 10 of the homes will be for affordable tenures.
The scheme, work on which is expected to start in summer 2023, will also include a nursery and recreational space.
Tom Copley, deputy mayor for housing and residential development said: “This development, in an area undergoing an exciting period of transformation, will not only provide hundreds of the genuinely affordable, high-quality homes that Londoners deserve, it will also foster a strong sense of community with retail facilities, community spaces and a nursery for young families. I look forward to working with partners on these plans and seeing this ambitious vision become a reality.”
An Optivo spokesperson said the association and Countryside will be working with groups including Black Professionals in Construction and Women into Construction to support residents from diverse communities to take up work on the scheme.
The announcement follows the publication on Friday of Lord Bob Kerslake’s review into housing delivery on GLA-owned land. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has accepted 15 recommendations from Lord Kerslake to boost housing delivery, including plans to beef up land acquisition, including through compulsory purchase orders, as a first step towards setting up a City Hall developer.
Housebuilder countryside reported a 55% drop in adjusted operating profit in the quarter to 31 December with completions down by a third. This led to the resignation of chief executive Iain McPherson in January.
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Optivo said last year it is aiming to start work on 1,000 homes in the 2021/22 financial year. It spent £112m on development in the first six months of the year, up on the £76m for the same period in 2020/21, which was impacted by the pandemic lockdown.
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