Thursday 22 December 2016

Brent House sold to Genesis Housing for £76 million

Brent House last week
Proposed development

Locals have noticed some work going on at Brent House, High Road, Wembley, recently. The office blocks were sold to Henley Homes by Brent Council for around £10 million in 2014 LINK

Yesterday Henley Homes announced that they had completed sale of the site, to include construction of 248 apartments and c6,000 square feet of retail space, to Genesis Housing. 30% of the apartments will be 'affordable' (up to 80% of market rents?)

Construction will be by Reis Construct, the construction arm of Henley Homes.

The blocks will be 7-10 storeys high, considerably lower than other recent planning applications in the area.  There will be further development of the High Road to the north on the Ark Elvin High School  frontage as well as the rebuild of the secondary school itself and the extension of Elsley Primary School currently under way.

The new blocks with Ark Elvin (formerly Copland) High Schoolon the right
Some of the property press have mistakely reported the sale as that of Brent Town Hall, which is of course now the Lycee International de Londres Winston Churchill.

The full extent of the new build (High Road at top of the picture) can be seen in this architect's drawing:


More details on the architect's website HERE

Demolition and build will start in the new year.

Jeremy Stibbe, Genesis Housing Association Executive Director of Assets and Investment said:
  We’re delighted that works for this exciting project will soon be getting underway and look forward to working closely with Henley Homes as the plans take shape. 


The new properties built at Brent House will play a key role in helping Genesis deliver on our ambitions to invest in 1,000 homes a year.  Genesis is the largest housing association landlord in Brent so we will be channelling this experience into creating a vibrant new mixed tenure community delivering affordability and opportunity for customers at the heart of the borough.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

'Genesis', eh?

And in the beginning was The Wad. And The Wad was God .............

Mike Hine

Philip Grant said...

At the start of my adult working life I was employed in housing management by several charitable housing associations (including Brent Peoples' Housing Association, then based in Harlesden, in the mid-1970's).

All of the homes that we provided (mostly in converted and modernised older properties) were social housing for people in housing need, with at least half of them nominated by Brent Council from their waiting list, or homeless families out of "bed-and-breakfast" guest houses.

How housing associations have changed, or have been changed by political decisions on how their work is funded! I never worked for one that had an 'Executive Director of Assets and Investment'. And only 30% of "affordable housing"!

It is plainly obvious that Britain, and London in particular, has a housing crisis, with far too many people not able to rent or buy a decent home. Politicians need to acknowledge this and make real efforts to improve the situation; and ordinary people need to press them, and use their voices and their votes, to do so.

Philip.

Anonymous said...

How right you are Philip

If Only

Jaine Lunn said...

What vibrant community exists in Tower Blocks, 248 Flats squashed into a very small space. No mention of a Community Centre, Communal Gardens, a Pocket Park, or Play space. Affordable Housing costs for a two bedroomed property in Brent is around £260+ per week. If rented to a family with 1 or 2 children on low income = £500+ in Housing Benefit payable by the Council. Just another paper exercise? No change there then.