Keyland unveils plans to help solve Yorkshire’s housing crisis

The firm has introduced a new housing delivery model, which it believes will ensure the fast delivery of sustainable communities.

In what it believes is a first for the UK, the model will be underpinned by a set of environmental, social and financial measures which will be tracked by a valuation tool.

After more than 20 years regenerating redundant land for Yorkshire Water, Keyland has spent the last five years extending its services to other landowners through its Planning Promotional Agreement (PPA) initiative, resulting in eight residential developments which will bring forward over 4,000 homes around Yorkshire.

With the PPAs now forming half of Keyland’s residential business, the team is focusing on working with major landowners, including local authorities and other public landowners, to bring forward land to help unlock the housing crisis.

Keyland claims that the current UK model of volume housing delivery doesn’t support sustainable housing delivery or the requirements of individual councils to meet demand for different types of homes. Therefore, the company set about devising a way to ensure new homes are procured in a way that creates more sustainable communities, focusing on improving energy efficiency and water resilience.

Keyland will use a valuation tool to calculate direct, indirect and enabled value delivered from its developments. The tool will be based on the organisation’s ‘Six Capitals’ model and will cover natural, social, human, intellectual, manufactured and financial value.

Using this tool - created by sustainability consultants 3ADAPT, with support from Yorkshire Water and other institutions - Keyland will be able to measure its ‘total value’, addressing its ambitions to deliver exceptional places and enable sustainable living.

Keyland will take on a master developer role to work with housebuilders and organisations such as housing associations and later-living housing providers to create a mix of houses. Keyland said it will pursue more prescriptive planning permissions and incorporate the ‘zoning’ of its sites to ensure that these innovative new communities will be realised.

Peter Garrett, managing director of Keyland Developments, said: “It’s our view that the existing model of housing delivery simply will not solve the housing crisis in Yorkshire as it does not support council policy, nor will it easily deliver truly sustainable development. By implementing our ‘Six Capitals’ model and evaluating the non-financial values alongside the financial, we can take a more holistic approach and ensure that the total value of a development is explicitly considered.

“Crucially, our master developer role will address the mix of uses being delivered and incorporate the self/custom-build model which we see as being increasingly important to the future of residential development. In short, we’re looking to change how houses are built and how they are bought.

“The expert team at 3ADAPT have devised the valuation tool, which we understand is the only one in the UK to take into account indirect and enabled as well as direct impacts, making it a truly pioneering and unique resource and one new to the property industry.”