Developer Apex Airspace has been given a £10 million loan by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan to help fund its developments of affordable homes in London.
The funding has been provided from the Mayor’s Innovation Fund for new affordable housing, and the company is the first airspace developer to receive funding from the scheme.
In a statement regarding the deal, Apex said it is keen 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 much-needed new homes”.
The firm has already implemented pilot schemes in Camden and West Hampstead, and has sought out several new partnerships with housing associations and councils. Eventually it hopes to deliver a range of new schemes with up to 100% affordable homes — which will be constructed offsite in factories and arrive on site 95% complete.
Khan’s deputy mayor for housing & residential development, James Murray, stated: “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.”
Meanwhile, Arshad Bhatti — founder and chief executive of Apex Airspace — said: “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.”
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