The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is providing a £10 million development loan to pioneering airspace developer Apex Airspace (Apex), to help roll out airspace developments in the capital and alleviate London’s acute demand for more affordable housing. The announcement marks the first time that the Mayor has supported an airspace developer.
The funding supports the Mayor’s commitment to build more affordable homes, better use capital assets, promote house delivery on small sites and support innovation in homes delivery.
London’s population is expected to grow by one million over the next decade, and the latest figures suggest the capital needs 65,000 new homes per year in that timeframe to meet this demand.
The funding, which has been granted through the Mayor’s Innovation Fund for affordable housing projects, will enable Apex to forge a wider range of partnerships with London’s councils, housing associations, and private market freeholders to scale new opportunities in both inner and outer boroughs and deliver the much-needed new homes.
Apex has already developed a range of new partnerships with housing associations and councils which could result in a range of new schemes delivering up to 100% affordable homes – across all London zones.
The Apex model, which has delivered pilot schemes in Camden and West Hampstead, uses the latest in homes construction technologies, with new homes constructed in factories, and arriving to site 95% complete and then craned on to roofs for installation.
James Murray, Deputy Mayor for Housing & Residential Development, said:
“London’s housing crisis has been decades in the making, and we need to use every possible opportunity to build more council, social rented, and other genuinely affordable homes. Our £10m loan will help Apex work with councils and housing associations to use their innovative approach of building on existing rooftops, so we can create more of the new genuinely affordable homes that Londoners so desperately need.”
Arshad Bhatti, Founder and Chief Executive of Apex Airspace, added:
“Today’s announcement is testament to City Hall taking an innovative approach to building more affordable homes and, as pioneers in airspace development, we are thrilled to be working in partnership with the Mayor. With a robust pipeline, this £10 million funding will help deliver much-needed new homes to people across the capital, who suffer at the hands of a lack of affordability, a lack of choice and longer commutes.
“We have invested heavily in airspace development and our research shows there is potential for up to 180,000 properties in London alone. This would represent 42% of the need identified by the London Plan, up to 2025.”