The roundtable, which occurred last week, brought together some of the Prime Minister’s senior advisers and officials from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to discuss how the SME sector can support the government in meeting its target of one-and-a-half million homes by 2029.
The roundtable was particularly focused on the “various barriers” SMEs are currently facing, from planning to developing and building, as well as policy and regulatory solutions that would “help unlock the potential of SME developers and the housebuilding landscape more generally”.
The lender said it was an “impactful forum” due to the input from government and policy specialists, as well as SME developers and builders, and comes off the back of a white paper the lender published earlier this year.
Aldermore said it was looking forward to working closer with the government, SME developers and builders to help deliver on the government’s housing targets.
Ross Dalzell, Aldermore’s managing director of property, said one of the key recommendations made was the “expanded use” of modern methods of construction (MMC).
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“This could significantly accelerate delivery, with up to 50% fewer workers needed, but does require a different skill set. Aldermore has therefore identified a need for wider education around MMC to increase uptake of such practices in the UK and calls for the creation of a national MMC strategy and warranty scheme, backed by the government,” he said.
He noted the “offer [of] targeted incentives” to SME developers to provide them with the “confidence to build”, such as the recently confirmed £100m in SME Accelerator Loans and new National Housing Delivery Fund, was also vital.
“Bring SME developers to the forefront of working out how we solve the most systemic problems. SME developers must be at the heart of delivering the 1.5 million homes target; at Aldermore, we’re currently engaging with the government and SME developers to convene their expertise and passion most effectively,” Dalzell added.
Recent figures estimate that 186,600 net additional homes have been delivered in England between the start of Parliament on 9 July 2024 and 15 June 2025.
