Wheatley Group has announced it has secured £185 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to build and improve affordable homes across Scotland.
The major deal was unveiled by EIB Vice President Jonathan Taylor at a community event in Glasgow attended by Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon MSP, local politicians, business leaders and tenants, staff and apprentices from across Wheatley.
Adding the £185 million to the funding raised by Wheatley over the past four years, their total now equates to £800 million. As the UK’s largest builder of social-rented homes, Wheatley is progressing an ambitious building programme, from 2015 through to 2025, of 7500 affordable new homes from Balloch and Dumbarton through Glasgow, West Lothian and Edinburgh to North Berwick.
The EIB loan, the largest of its type ever to be made in Scotland, is linked to a commitment by Wheatley to invest £400 million over the next three years in affordable housing. This will include refurbishing of existing homes to meet new Scottish and EU energy-efficiency standards, helping tenants cut energy bills, and housing and integrating refugees into Wheatley communities.
Wheatley Chair Alastair MacNish said: “This loan is fantastic news for people and families across Scotland and is a huge vote of confidence in Wheatley and our unyielding commitment to affordable housing.
“It will help us to consolidate our position as the UK’s largest builder of social-rented homes, which we hold close as a badge of honour at a time when the availability and supply of affordable housing is such an acute priority.”
Speaking at the funding announcement at the Reidvale Neighbourhood Centre in Gallowgate, Glasgow, where GHA, part of Wheatley Group, is building 143 homes, Jonathan Taylor, EIB Vice President, said: “New investment in social housing is crucial to increase the number of affordable homes and cut heating bills in existing properties. The European Investment Bank supports social housing investment with leading housing associations across Europe and is pleased to back transformational investment here in Scotland by Wheatley, the largest housing association in Scotland and the largest builder of new social housing in the UK.
“This week’s visit to Glasgow provides a valuable opportunity to see how upgrading existing properties and construction of new social housing will improve lives, create skilled jobs, benefit local suppliers and cut heating bills in homes for hundreds of families.”
Wheatley has completed building 1900 homes over the last three years and is planning up to 3000 more on 60 sites across Scotland. The new £185 million EIB loan, with other future investments, will enable Wheatley to maintain a building programme of around 650 homes a year from 2021 to early 2025.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “Ensuring people have access to quality housing is a fundamental part of building a fair and equal society. That is why we have committed to deliver at least 50,000 new affordable homes in the five years to 2021.
“Wheatley Group is vital in helping us achieve that, having delivered almost 1,900 new affordable homes across Scotland over the past three years and the additional funding from the European Investment Bank will help them build on this. It is also another reminder of how Scotland benefits from the EU and its institutions.”
In the last decade, the European Investment Bank has provided more than £4 billion for transport, education, social housing, transport, water, energy, urban regeneration and new hospital investment across the Scotland, with additional investment from UK wide programmes.