Midlands-based provider eyes 7,500 new homes over the next five years

Platform Housing Group has increased the number of homes it has started 8% year-on-year.

Naseby Square- Market Harborough

Platform’s Naseby Square scheme in Market Harborough, Leicestershire

The Midlands-based landlord said it started work on 1,654 homes in the 2024/25 financial year, up from 1,534 the previous year, which was itself a record for the provider.

The figure means the 50,000-home provider exceeded its target of 1,600 home starts in the year, as it seeks to become one of the biggest housing association developers in the country.

Among the schemes started was work on a 319-home development in Beeston, Nottingham, which includes 82 homes on the Octopus Energy ‘zero bills tariff’.

It also started work on a 260-home scheme in Coventry and a 133-home project in Rushden, Northamptonshire.

However, Platform’s completions for the year fell 14%. The landlord completed 1,036 compared to 1,202 the previous year.

The drop was despite a 30% increase in homes completed in the first nine months of the year - thereby indicating a sharp slowdown in the final quarter.

Platform said it faced a contractor insolvency that affected a couple of schemes in addition to delays to section 106 agreements.

>>See also: Spending on existing stock up 141% at Platform Housing

>>See also: Platform appoints first ever sustainability director

Gerraint Oakley, executive director of growth and development at Platform Housing Group said: “We made the decision following the pandemic to keep building homes which required a monumental effort from everyone in programme, new business, delivery and sales. To see us start on more than 1,600 homes in the year is fantastic, with certain sites some of the biggest we’ve ever delivered as Platform. “

Oakley said Platform is predicting a similar number of annual starts going forward, which could see it deliver 7,500 homes over the next five years.

Oakley said the number of completions was “outstanding” despite the year-on-year drop.

He said: “Sites have been up against planning and highway issues, along with constant financial challenges faced by the small and medium regional builders we often work with. “

Platform last month doubled the size of a debt instrument in order to raise funds for affordable housing development and decarbonisation.

The housing association has increased the size of its Euro Medium Term Note (EMTN) programme, rated A+ by S&P and Fitch, to £2bn.

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