The Stonebond Partnership Model goes from strength to strength

Having recently passed my five year anniversary at Stonebond, I have been reflecting on my Stonebond experience to date which has been overwhelmingly positive.

In that time, I’ve been heavily involved with our partnerships activity, forging relationships with housing providers, investors and PRS operators, as our mixed-tenure housing delivery has increased.?

In a ever changing wider economic climate, it is extremely important to stay up to date with our preferred partners to fully understand their priorities so we can ensure transactions run as smoothly as possible. Each partner has different priorities; be that the use of MMC, the speed of delivery, or the sustainability strategy. It is a continually evolving process.

We’ve been working successfully in this way now for a number of years, developing quality relationships with housing providers and other investors who recognise our strengths and track record for delivery.?

It’s not surprising that more housebuilders are now looking at the partnership model, however, we are confident that Stonebond are in a market leading position with this model and are therefore in a strong position to capitalise on the excellent blend of skills and resources that the partnership model thrives off to help unlock sites and deliver results.

Often, we are delivering higher than policy-required levels of affordable housing in conjunction with a Housing Association. This has a knock-on effect on landowners, who are equally keen to work with a partner who can secure planning consent in good time and with increased certainty.

When also considering the role of Homes England as a stakeholder in the process, and the funding they can provide, there’s an added layer of comfort to the process, due to the funding commitment from the Government.?

Our work with other partners, like institutional investors and PRS operators, is increasing. The role they play in helping to diversify the sector and delivering a wider range of tenures, is going to be increasingly important in the coming years. Different locations suit different models and tenure delivery, so the greater diversity of partners, the stronger the overall market will become.?

Looking ahead, there are a multitude of challenges in the industry including enhanced building regulations standards, greater ESG and sustainability targets and other new legislation such as Biodiversity Net Gain. Whilst these improved standards are welcome, it is likely that they will ultimately drive-up development costs, which will impact land values.?

We know that the long-term demand for affordable housing and mixed tenure schemes remains strong and looking ahead we see great strength and optimism in the sector.