Round two Kickstart winners announced

The Homes & Communities Agency (HCA) has announced the winning bids that will gain a share of the second round of Kickstart funding, with 87 successful schemes set to share almost £83 million.

Some 265 schemes were originally shortlisted for round two of the Kickstart funding, and around a quarter of the winning schemes are expected to be back on site by the end of this month. All told, the 87 winners will deliver 5,696 new homes, including 3,503 classed as affordable, with 2,193 of these to be made available through HomeBuy Direct. A further 345 will be offered to other low cost home ownership routes and 802 will be for social rent.

According to the HCA, 85 of the schemes will comply with Level 3 of the Code for Sustainable Homes. The complete list of winning bids can be found at: www.homesandcommunities.co.uk/kickstart-round-two.

Sir Bob Kerslake, the HCA’s chief executive said: “With over 6,000 new and affordable homes now on their way to being completed through Round 1 of the Kickstart programme, this second round of funding will help many more schemes get back on track.

“The due diligence process for selecting these successful projects has been rigorous, assessing factors such as value for money, local fit, demand and sustainability to help ensure the homes meet the needs of the people who will live in them.

“With much of the funding for this round delivering many more HomeBuy Direct properties we are not only helping developers by unlocking schemes but also giving more people the opportunity to own their own home.”

Kickstart is also expected to help create employment opportunities around the country with at least 99 apprenticeships created and 22 safeguarded through these Round 2 schemes.

The funding announced today is in addition to £425m allocated through Round 1 to deliver a total of over 6,000 new homes across 141 mothballed schemes that have been helped to restart on site. A further announcement on other successful bidders in Round 2 is expected in late Spring.