Brent Council has agreed to purchase the long leasehold interest in 114 new homes at St George's Grand Union development for the purchase price of £27m plus statutory costs.

The homes include 92 affordable rented flats and 22 shared ownership apartments. Practical completion is expected in November 2021 for the affordable rented homes, and May 2023 for the shared ownership homes.

The developer will grant the Council a 999-year lease at a peppercorn rent on completion of the contract for the 114 affordable homes.

The 114 1, 2 and 3-bedroom affordable homes are being sold as a package within blocks A and B (affordable rented homes) in phase 1 and block D (shared ownership) in phase 3. Construction of the 1st phase of this development comprising 92 affordable rented homes commenced in December 2019.

The purchase price offer is £27m but the total cost of the scheme to the
Council is £30m (when including 12% for fees and contingency) and would sit
within HRA. The average cost per home is £265k including all on costs (£237k
based on purchase price only).

The contract will be exchanged in May 2020.

The Grand Union development will deliver a total of 3,030 homes in the Alperton
area. It is a development spanning 10-15 years but the first homes are now
being built. The planning application reference of the development is 18/0321.

35% of these homes will be affordable. This totals about 1,050 homes of which 30% (315) will be shared ownership and 70% (735) rented. The rent is required to be capped at Local Housing Allowance (LHA).