Britain’s biggest building society is going back to its roots to actually build houses.
Today, few building societies play any role in the housing market beyond providing mortgages and other financial services.
But they were once called building societies for a very sound reason - they actually built houses for their members.
And now Swindon-based Nationwide has received planning permission to build nearly 250 homes in the Wiltshire town as part of a novel not-for-profit project.
The firm has its global headquarters on Pipers Way and little more than two miles away it will redevelop a derelict former university campus.
Planners at Swindon Borough Council have this week approved its proposals for 239 homes on the Oakfield Campus site, where the University of Bath used to operate a satellite campus.
The building society is investing approximately £50 million in the regeneration project.
Joe Garner, Nationwide’s chief executive, said: “We’re delighted to receive approval to deliver a long-lasting, high quality development in collaboration with local residents and Swindon Borough Council.
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“As a building society we were founded to help improve housing, rather than maximising profit and shareholder return. Helping create these new homes and a thriving community is a great example of how we are guided by our purpose of building society, nationwide.”
Although the company employs several thousand people in Swindon this project is not aimed at creating a Victorian-era ‘company town’ along the lines of Bourneville in Birmingham or Port Sunlight in Merseyside, where Cadbury’s and Lever respectively built thousands of homes to house their workers.
The Oakfields development will not offer priority to Nationwide staff and those buying houses will not have to take out a mortgage with the firm.
It says it plans to break even on the project and removing the profit margin that housing developers would chase will allow it to make 30 per cent of the site affordable housing and for it to spend far more on community benefits than the norm.
While the homes have been designed to exacting build quality standards to ensure they meet the needs of diverse households, the development focuses on creating a multi-generational and supportive community, not just houses. As well as maintaining substantial green spaces, Nationwide will also provide new facilities to benefit the wider local community.
Nationwide has since 2017 employed a ‘community organiser’ to speak to neighbouring residents and businesses so that the development could be shaped to meet their needs.
Building is expected to start by the end of the year, with the first phase of homes available from Spring 2021.
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Councillor Gary Sumner, Swindon Borough Council’s cabinet member for strategic planning, said: “This development ticks a lot of boxes for the council and builds on the excellent, and award-winning, design standards we have seen across a number of new developments in Swindon. It is exactly the reason why we chose Nationwide as our partner to deliver local homes on the Oakfield site.
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“The design of the homes is absolutely exceptional. However, it’s not just about the high quality of design and development, but also the improvements and benefits it will bring to the existing community.”
It is not the first time Nationwide has been involved in housing development - one of its predecessor companies was heavily involved in the promotion of the Letchworth ‘garden city’ project in Hertfordshire in the early 20th Century.
The first building societies of the late 18th Century were specifically formed to tackle a housing crisis and build houses for their members.
Perhaps this project will offer another change in how Britain goes about providing the housing it so desperately needs.