02 Aug £60m investment will fund 200 homes in the borough of Lewisham

Phoenix has secured £60million investment to fund 200 new homes and to unlock the potential for many more new homes over the coming years.

The agreement with Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) – a specialist insurer of defined benefit pension funds – includes the refinancing of existing debt and removal of restrictive covenants to enable expansion of Phoenix’s development programme and help address the shortage of housing in Lewisham.

The news follows the completion of the resident-led housing association’s first residential development – a 60-home extra care scheme at Hazelhurst Court, by Beckenham Hill Station. Hazelhurst Court has won two architectural design awards to date, from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and the Housing Design Awards. Work on three other housing developments has also started.

Over the coming months Phoenix will be consulting residents and other stakeholders in the community on future development plans – the best locations for new housing, along with the type of homes and architectural design that people would like to see in the area.

Director of Finance at Phoenix Community Housing, Chris Starke, said: “We’re delighted to have secured this funding from PIC to deliver more of the new homes that Lewisham desperately needs, and we look forward to working with them as an investment partner. We’re very excited to embark on a much larger development programme that meets the current and future needs of our area.

“As a housing association that’s led by our residents, we now want to work with the community across south Lewisham to ensure that we are delivering the right kind of homes in the right locations. We look forward to talking to people and listening to their views over the coming weeks and months.”