Batsworth Road, Mitcham

The Oakwood Group purchased this former industrial site with the benefit of detailed planning permission for 14 family houses.

The Oakwood Group worked closely with the landowner in procuring the planning consent, where careful attention to agreeing a tenure suitable for HCA funding was key to ensuring delivery for Wandle HA.

This scheme was the first of Wandle’s development sites under the 2011/2015 investment period. Following the government’s Comprehensive Spending Review, the amount of government funding available for affordable housing has been significantly reduced and the government has fundamentally changed its process for allocating that money, and also the “products” which may be used with that money for the purposes of delivering affordable housing.

In this case, all of the houses were provided under the HCA’s new ‘Affordable Rent’ tenure and extensive work was necessary to agree appropriate rent levels with LB Merton for inclusion in the s.106 Agreement.

The scheme was procured via a design and build contract, managed under a JCT Standard Form of Building Contract.

Construction commenced Quarter 3 2012 and was completed in Quarter 4 2013.