Orbit builds on Homes England partnership with Trent & Dove

Orbit has signed a delivery partner contract with Midlands-based Trent & Dove for them to build at least 135 homes in Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire.

Building for the future…Casey Harper, Project Manager, Trent & Dove, Tony Price, Programme & New Initiatives Manager, Trent & Dove, Charlie Riley, Development Director, Trent & Dove and David Harris, Property Director, Property Investment at Orbit.

Orbit has signed a delivery partner contract with Midlands-based Trent & Dove for them to build at least 135 homes in Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire.

The contract forms part of Orbit’s strategic partnership with Homes England which will provide grant funding of £128m for an additional 2,762 much-needed affordable new homes to be in development by 2022.

Orbit is one of the largest housing groups in the country with a growing property portfolio of over 43,000 homes spanning the Midlands, east and south.

Maggie McCann, Director of Regeneration and Partnerships at Orbit, explained: “Our partnership with Homes England supports our ambition to deliver 20,000 new homes over the next 10 years as we continue to play a key role in the growth of the UK housing market and fulfil our commitment to lead in building thriving communities. The contract we have just signed will enable Trent & Dove to meet its own development ambitions through the Homes England funding.

“This is a very positive step for the affordable housing market in the Midlands and Homes England is fully behind this partnership. We were very impressed with Trent & Dove’s experience of building high quality, affordable homes which are much-needed in Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire.

Formed in 2001, Trent & Dove provides affordable housing for rent and shared ownership. They currently have 6,000 properties covering East Staffordshire, South Derbyshire and North West Leicestershire.

Trent & Dove will build, own and manage the homes, which will be a mixture of affordable rent and shared ownership properties. A number of sites have been identified to deliver the 135 new homes and work has already started on two with three currently appointing contractors and two sites are in the planning system.

Charlie Riley, Director of Development at Trent & Dove Housing, said: “We are delighted to partner with Orbit to support our aspiration of becoming a 10,000 home organisation by 2022. Together, with both our experience and expertise, we can build the right homes in the right places for our customers. The partnership supports our mission of Transforming Homes, Lives and Neighbourhoods and we look forward to playing a pivotal role in providing more homes across our region.” 

By the end of September 2019, Orbit had identified sites that will provide half of the strategic partnership programme of 2,762 homes by 2022.