Monday, November 24, 2025
A powerful new alliance has been forged to tackle England’s persistent housing crisis and drive regeneration in regions that have historically suffered from a lack of investment. Homes England, the government’s housing and regeneration agency, has entered into a landmark joint venture, The Impact & Places Partnership, with leading European asset manager Swiss Life Asset Managers and award-winning UK social impact developer Capital&Centric.
This ambitious partnership aims to deliver over 2,250 new, high-quality homes and mixed-use developments over the next decade, backed by an estimated £860 million of investment. The venture’s focus is explicitly on underinvested areas where the demand for new, affordable housing is most acute, moving beyond the traditional core city centres to unlock potential in regional towns and cities.
The joint venture’s structure is designed to blend public sector leverage with significant institutional financial power. Homes England holds a 40% stake, while Swiss Life Asset Managers and Capital&Centric combine for a 60% stake. This investment model signals a critical shift in how large-scale residential development will be funded across the country.
Simon Century, Chief Investment Officer at Homes England, underscored the strategic necessity of this blended approach. “Attracting institutional investment into the housing sector is critical to build the new homes the country needs and contributes to the government’s ambition to build 1.5 million new homes in this parliament,” he stated.
Century highlighted that the partnership’s investment is further proof of Homes England’s commitment to mobilising private capital into the residential market. It will also play a crucial role in supporting small and medium-sized developers to realise their house-building ambitions through collaboration and resource sharing.
The newly formed partnership brings together complementary, high-level expertise:
Swiss Life Asset Managers: Provides the financial strength, long-term capital, and extensive real estate experience of one of Europe’s longest-standing financial institutions. The firm manages assets globally, with a growing appetite for resilient residential sectors in the UK.
Capital&Centric: Contributes its proven expertise in residential-led placemaking and social impact regeneration, known for transforming unloved industrial land and buildings into vibrant, design-led neighbourhoods, such as their successful projects, Kampus in Manchester and Goods Yard in Stoke-on-Trent.
Homes England: Offers public sector land, funding levers, and the necessary on-the-ground support to steer projects towards communities where housing supply is most constrained.
The launch of the partnership has been strongly welcomed by the government, which is committed to fixing the housing crisis. Steve Reed, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, framed the deal as a model for unlocking accelerated housing delivery.
“We will get Britain building again by backing brilliant homegrown developers like Capital&Centric, and bringing in major institutional investors like Swiss Life Asset Managers, to build the homes this country desperately needs,” Reed said. “We are pulling every lever to fix the housing crisis, and it’s exactly this kind of deal that will help us build the 1.5 million homes, faster, and in the communities that need them most.”
This injection of major institutional investment, particularly from a European powerhouse like Swiss Life Asset Managers, reflects a growing global confidence in the stability and long-term returns of the UK’s regional residential development market. Jan Plückhahn, Head of Real Estate at Swiss Life Asset Managers, confirmed their commitment: “We look forward to bringing our financial strength and expertise… to the partnership,” extending their residential focus beyond their traditional Continental European markets into the UK regions.
A core element of The Impact & Places Partnership’s mandate is a focus on social impact—developing not just houses, but sustainable, high-quality, mixed-use neighbourhoods.
Tom Wilmot, Joint Managing Director of Capital&Centric, highlighted the deliberate geographical strategy behind the venture. “The strategy is all about delivering high-quality neighbourhoods in a range of locations, not just core cities but also under-invested locations where the impact story is more compelling and the supply and demand dynamics are more favourable,” Wilmot explained.
Capital&Centric’s track record demonstrates a commitment to sustainable, community-focused design, which includes energy-efficient homes, accessible public spaces, and the integration of local retail and workspace facilities. This approach is intended to create resilient, long-term places for communities to live, work, and socialise, ensuring that the financial returns for the institutional investors are aligned with a tangible, positive social change.
The £860 million pipeline over the next ten years promises to bring a steady cadence of development activity, supporting local jobs, strengthening regional supply chains, and transforming previously overlooked or derelict sites into thriving residential quarters. This strategic deployment of capital and expertise is viewed as a blueprint for how blended public-private structures can effectively address regional housing shortages, paving the way for the government to meet its ambitious national housing targets.
Read more news on: housing and supply chains
Get such updates through woodandpanel.us
Tags: affordable homes, Homes England, mixed-use development, UK housing crisis
Comments: