Plans for new pattern book of standardised house designs for local authority use also revealed
Homes England’s small sites aggregator initiative will be rolled out nationally following successful pilots, the housing and planning minister has announced.
Speaking at UKREiiF 2026 this morning, Matthew Pennycook said: “[Homes England] is integral to the delivery of important initiatives such as our Small Sites Aggregator and building on the pilots in Bristol, Lewisham, and Sheffield, I am pleased today to confirm its national rollout.
“The initiative will unlock dormant, unviable small brownfield sites and through the forging of new partnerships between the public and private sector will attract investment to use them to build 10,000 social rent homes a year.”
The government proposed the small sites aggregator pilot in May 2025 as part of a package of reforms to support SME housebuilders get spades in the ground.
In the same speech, Pennycook also revealed that the government is working with 23 local authorities to co-develop a pattern book of standard house designs due to be published by the end of the year.
He said this would help support investment in modern methods of construction, remove barriers for SME developers and enable local authorities to deliver homes on small sites they own.
Pennycook also highlighted the “really ambitious” amount of bids being submitted to to the government’s £39b social and affordable homes programme (SAHP).
“We almost certainly won’t be able to satisfy them all, but that is a really good sign of the appetite that’s out there amongst registered providers,” he said.
This follows comments made by Peabody chief executive, Ian McDermott, who described the SAHP as “significantly oversubscribed” in London at the Chartered Institute of Housing’s Brighton conference earlier this month.
In his optimistic speech, the minister underscored the government’s commitment to “faithfully executing” its plan to deliver 1.5 million affordable homes this parliamentary term.
He added: “While the headwinds are undoubtedly growing stronger, we are going to stay the course and finish the job.
“Uninformed critics will no doubt decry my reference to stronger headwinds as an attempt to deflect blame for early falls in housing delivery that I can assure all of you were fully expected and anticipated in opposition.
“But everyone in this room will know that the very real challenges that the sector has experienced over recent years […] have been exacerbated by the global turbulence of recent months.”
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