Britain’s house-building industry has committed to stepping up the number of new homes that are built by the end of the decade.
Members of the Home Builders Federation (HBF) pledged to raise levels of new housing in 2019 to more than double those seen in 2010.
In a statement of intent published by the HBF, house-builders promised to work closely with the Government to boost output.
The firms also said they would invest more in training and provide more information on build-out rates.
In addition, the HBF announced the launch of a land-exchange scheme that will allow larger builders to sell sites to smaller businesses.
The HBF made the announcement following months of talks with the Government aimed at finding ways to raise Britain’s housing stock.
It comes as the Government seeks to build one million more homes by the end of the current parliament by 2020.
Research carried out by the HBF has shown that build rates on large sites have already doubled since 2010.
It also indicated that housing supply reached 180,000 in 2014-2015, with this figure set to be even higher in 2015-2016.
Talks between the Government and the HBF are expected to continue over the months ahead.
They will look at further ways to ramp up the number of new homes in Britain, in a bid to tackle the housing shortage gripping the country.
One area of concern is said to be the planning process, which the HBF is hoping to speed up to allow homes to be built more quickly.
Housing and Planning Minister Brandon Lewis said: “This statement of intent shows house-builders are committed to continuing the growth in supply we have seen under our administration – building more of the homes that this country needs.
“We have already seen a strong upwards growth in new homes delivered since 2010 and I welcome developers’ plans to share with councils how quickly they will get homes built on sites.
“I’ll continue working with HBF and house-builders to see rates of building increase further and look forward to seeing the results of their review of larger sites.”
HBF and CITB recently announced the Home Building Skills Partnership – a £2.7 million initiative which will to help tackle the nation’s housing shortage.
Steve Radley, Director of Policy & Partnerships at CITB, said: “The Homebuilding Skills Partnership will deliver the infrastructure, the tools and the funding to meet the industry’s skill needs. We look forward to playing an active role in the partnership to create the skilled workforce that Homebuilding needs.”
