Annual Reports Keepmoat Homes Annual Report 2018

Strategic Report Keepmoat.com 8 Chief Executive Officer’s Review Expertise in brownfield development We are the UK’s leading brownfield homebuilder. We are not distracted from brownfield development by more readily available greenfield sites. Our experience gives us confidence in valuing brownfield sites and means that we attach lower levels of contingencies, improving site viability. Our willingness to work on brownfield sites is clear from our track record; over 80% of our current developments are on brownfield land. We are pleased to see an increasingly sophisticated approach to brownfield land from the public sector – in particular, a willingness to package together sites so that the profitable cross subsidise the otherwise unviable. Local authorities in Leeds, Sheffield, Rotherham and Herefordshire provide model approaches for others to follow. Investment in Modern Methods of Construction The industry is increasingly looking at Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), and in this respect Keepmoat Homes is delighted to partner with modular homes specialist ilke Homes. With the help of ilke, we delivered the first two homes using modern methods of construction, at our Carr Lodge development in Doncaster and we have a healthy pipeline being built in partnership with ilke Homes to follow. We see MMC adding capacity in the market and being particularly well suited for high volume developments. We have invested substantially in ilke Homes and worked with their team to create a product tailored to the aspirations of first time buyers and also to the requirements of our public sector and housing association partners. We welcome the Government’s support for modular construction to drive the delivery of additional homes, over and above what the industry can currently build. It sees modular construction as a means of applying manufacturing’s quality control systems to housebuilding, modernising the skills of the construction workforce and generating economic growth through a native high-tech industry. Whole-government commitment to housing supply The need to increase housing supply is no longer only recognised at ministry level. It is a whole Government policy, actively supported by the Prime Minister and Chancellor, to raise housing supply to its highest levels since the 1970s, with a target of 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s. There is also growing convergence in terms of housing policy across all parties and we welcome that. In this financial year, we have seen the responsible department renamed as the Ministry of Housing, Community and Local Government to reflect the priority given to supply. We have seen the Government’s agency rebranded as Homes England and also refocused on supply. And we have seen the Letwin Review set up to challenge the industry to build out its planning consents. The Government continues to find ways to stimulate supply, including: Providing a “down payment” of £44bn of financial support over the next 5 years Confirmation of a further £10bn for Help to Buy supporting a further 135,000 new homes £4.1bn for its Housing Infrastructure Fund £1.1bn for a Land Assembly Fund, enabling Homes England to work alongside housebuilders Planning reforms to accelerate delivery, encourage use of brownfield land and fast-track planning of sites with high proportions of first time or affordable homes. Support for first time buyers The Government demonstrated its commitment to helping first time buyers by eliminating stamp duty for their purchases of homes up to £300,000 and by committing a further £10bn for Help to Buy. We continue to press for Help to Buy to be funded beyond 2021, either in its current form or reformed to support first time buyers and those with lower incomes and to make available funding go further. It is popular with buyers, and its valuable side effects are in stimulating house building and, in doing so, providing subsidy for affordable tenures. The alignment of Keepmoat Homes with the ambitions of Government and our public sector partners means we are optimistic about our future at the heart of the UK housing market. Finally, but by no means least, I would like to thank everyone at Keepmoat who has contributed to our success and to thank them for all of their hard work. We could not deliver the homes the UK needs without them. James Thomson Chief Executive Over 80% of our current developments are on brownfield land.

Annual Reports Keepmoat Homes Annual Report 2018 | Page 8