Homes England - Stewardship Pilot Scheme

Homes England is envisaging procuring a potential delivery partner to develop and implement ready-made stewardship solutions on up to five pilot sites across the Homes England portfolio. The purpose of the prior information notice (PIN) is to notify interested parties of this intention, and to undertake pre-market engagement to understand the level of appetite within the market for this service. Interested parties are invited to review the supplementary information, and are strongly encouraged to respond to the accompanying questionnaire. Interested parties are also invited to engage in a virtual meeting to discuss further.

Delivering sustainable new communities requires a clear understanding of how assets generated by the development process will be managed in perpetuity. Some of these assets do not lend themselves to traditional local authority adoption, particularly with many councils increasingly unwilling to adopt assets due to maintenance responsibilities and costs. A number of sites across the agency have reached a stage in the planning and development process whereby further clarity is needed over long-term management arrangements across a range of assets, to ensure a positive legacy for new developments.

To inform thinking around stewardship, Homes England has previously commissioned a long-term stewardship toolkit, which includes a comprehensive appraisal of the main stewardship options, legal structures and funding mechanisms available. The pilot schemes seeks to build on the work undertaken to date, and move towards implementation.

A delivery partner is required to develop and implement ready-made stewardship model(s) in line with the site-specific needs, underpinned by financial modelling, appropriate legal structures, supporting governance arrangements and risk management. The stewardship model(s) will need to enable Homes England to exit the site at an appropriate time, and ensure there are no residual liabilities or ongoing responsibilities. The delivery partner will be required to have demonstrable experience of implementing stewardship solutions, a track record of managing assets to a high quality, and able to take a long-term view across multi-phase sites. A clear approach to sustainable funding mechanisms will be required, with a transparent and proportionate approach to service charges.

The required services will also include appropriate stakeholder engagement, such as with District Councils/County Councils/Unitary Authorities, Parish/Town Councils, community groups, Neighbourhood Planning groups, infrastructure providers and residents to ensure robust governance arrangements, with clearly defined roles and responsibilities. Engagement with housebuilders, commercial, mixed-use and community providers is strongly encouraged to embed end user needs and learn from best practice.

The identified pilot sites vary in both size, location and stewardship requirements, and are likely to include:

• Burgess Hill (circa. 3,500 homes);
• Burtree Garden Village (circa. 2,000 homes);
• Coypool Park (circa. 550 homes);
• Fairham (circa. 3,000 homes); and
• Northstowe (circa. 10,000 homes);

Homes England reserves the right to substitute and add pilot sites.

This PIN forms the start of a market engagement process which will help Homes England to further understand the market, as well as influence and design the procurement process. It is intended that the learning gained through this pilot scheme will help to inform the approach to stewardship more widely across Homes England.

Further information can be accessed via Home England’s e-Tendering system. If not already registered, interested parties should register at procontract.due-north.com/Login ↗