Seddon’s Development and Decarbonisation Director, Richard Sterling, has set out why small and medium-sized builders must play a central role in delivering the government’s housing and regeneration ambitions.
The government’s commitment to deliver 1.5 million homes has renewed focus on who will actually build them. Alongside planning reform and funding announcements, there has been a welcome shift towards supporting smaller and family-owned housebuilders.
A generation ago, SMEs delivered around 40% of new homes, but today that figure is closer to 10%. The financial crash removed thousands of smaller builders from the market, leaving a sector dominated by a limited number of large developers.
For landlords, this has meant fewer delivery partners and less competition. For communities, it has often led to standardised approaches that do not always reflect local need. For local economies, it has meant fewer opportunities to retain investment and build skills.
Smaller contractors are embedded in the areas where they work. They employ local people, use local supply chains and invest in apprenticeships, with eight in 10 construction apprentices trained by SMEs.
They are also more likely to take on the smaller, complex brownfield and estate-based schemes that larger developers often struggle to make commercially viable.
This flexibility will become increasingly important. The UK has the oldest housing stock in Europe, and more than 125,000 social homes in the North alone are expected to reach the end of their life over the next decade.
The Social and Affordable Homes Programme now recognises regeneration alongside new build. This gives councils and housing associations the confidence to bring forward estate renewal schemes that combine new homes with investment in existing communities.
Seddon’s own work shows how this can be delivered in practice. At Field Lane, Seddon is working with Together Housing to deliver 94 new homes and upgrade 410 existing properties on a live estate. At Sale West in Manchester, Seddon delivered 79 new social rent homes for Irwell Valley Homes across small parcels of land within an existing estate. This required careful phasing and constant communication with residents.
Social value is also central to this approach. Seddon’s Passivhaus programme with Salford City Council has generated £9.5m of local supply chain spend and created 13 apprenticeships, keeping public investment within the communities where the homes are built.
The article calls for procurement routes and partnership models that allow capable regional contractors to compete and grow. It also stresses that resident engagement must shape the design and long-term management of schemes, rather than being treated as a tick-box exercise.
It concludes that meeting the government’s housing targets will require a broader and more resilient delivery market. Smaller builders have the flexibility, local knowledge and long-term commitment to play a central role, particularly in regeneration, where the stakes are highest for communities.
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