Housing and Community Regeneration

We know the importance to a community of ensuring that their homes and neighbourhood environment is clean, tidy and in good repair, and, how the downward spiral of anti-social behaviour and general deprivation can be reversed by well-managed neighbourhood regeneration investment.

In London’s east end, we have established a partnership with the Borough of Newham through our joint-venture, Regenter, under which we have taken responsibility for the repair and upkeep of 1,200 local authority homes and their surroundings in Canning Town.

The area is one of the most vibrant regeneration areas in London and our challenge is to ensure that these homes receive much-needed investment for improvement. The properties are being refurbished, through our joint-venture, Equipe, within the first three years of the project; then our ongoing task is to maintain their condition over the next 30 years.

Years of experience have taught us that housing developments thrive best when as much care is given to their environment as to the condition of the buildings themselves. It is a crucial part of our commitment that we strive to encourage greater care and respect for the neighbourhood among its inhabitants. We engage closely with the community to help build a pleasant environment, and encourage people to take a pride in their own surroundings.

This approach also has a tendency to reduce anti-social behaviour. Where it does still arise, we are able to lessen its impact by, for example, responding promptly to incidents such as breakages and property damage and dealing with minor issues before they become bigger. By cleaning graffiti within hours of its appearance we reduce the chances of repetition.

PPPs have made regeneration schemes affordable where perhaps they weren’t before, but only when flexibility and innovation can be brought to bear. At Canning Town we devised a bespoke solution using local supply chains and contractors - 40% of the employees on the contract live within the borough - to provide a best value solution for housing refurbishment.

In Lewisham, south east London, a different challenge faces us with Brockley Housing, where we are upgrading 1,800 local authority homes, many within a major conservation area, requiring careful and sensitive planning and design.

Residents of the Bentilee estate in Stoke-on-Trent, one of the most deprived housing estates within the UK, are meanwhile benefiting from the opening of a single, central multi-facility community centre. Our scheme provides a focus for a community that lacked a modern, cohesive and vibrant centre, bringing a whole range of services under one roof, including a GP practice, dental surgery, walk-in health centre, housing office, library, computer suite, community centre and youth services, as well as a number of retail outlets including a pharmacy and café.

It was the first Joint Service centre delivered under PPP in the UK and our solution is being used by 4ps, the local government project delivery specialist, within specification documents for other projects of this type.

We are also developing infrastructure related property development opportunities, bringing together education, rail, health and housing where they can act as a focus for other regeneration activities.

We believe that sensitivity in dealing with local communities is a key element in delivering successful regeneration projects.  We always try to encourage local people to have a say in what happens in their homes and neighbourhood and whenever possible we work with partners who employ local people and who can work in peoples’ homes and communities in a considerate and sensitive manner.

In each of our projects, we are developing local Community Development Trusts, run by the residents, through which PPP project funds are used to support local projects such as sports activities, out-of-hours clubs, environmental improvements and employment initiatives.

To discuss investment options in housing and community regeneration, please contact Andrew Charlesworth, Director, John Laing Investments on Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7901 3200, or email: andrew.charlesworth@laing.com.

To discuss facilities and performance management options for housing and community regeneration, please contact Mike Paskin, Director, John Laing Integrated Services on Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7901 3200, or email: mike.paskin@laing.com.

To discuss rail infrastructure projects, please contact Andy Pearson, Director, John Laing Projects & Developments on Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7901 3200, or email: andy.pearson@laing.com.

For more information about Regenter visit http://www.regenter.com/.