Sigma Capital Group has announced the acquisition of four new development sites worth around £100 million in gross development cost (GDC), continuing its strategic partnership with Vistry Group. The projects will deliver 415 new single-family rental homes across England, further cementing Sigma’s role as a leading player in the build-to-rent sector. The four sites include: All homes will be built by Vistry Group and, once completed, will be owned and managed by Sigma Capital, with the company’s in-house Simple Life team overseeing leasing and tenant services. This acquisition brings Sigma’s total balance sheet investment to £1.06 billion, encompassing 4,510 homes. Sigma now operates nationally, managing rental properties from central Scotland to southern England and London. These new developments come as Sigma continues a year of accelerated growth. The company has completed around 2,500 homes to date in 2025, with the number expected to rise to over 3,800 by year-end. Upon completion, the portfolio will generate an estimated £77 million in annual rent. Across all its investment partnerships, Sigma has now delivered over 13,500 new homes, of which 10,600 are completed, with the remainder under construction. The total estimated rental value (ERV) of these homes exceeds £190 million per year. Graham Barnet, CEO of Sigma Capital, said: “We recently celebrated a decade in single-family build-to-rent and this latest round of acquisitions shows that we are still consistently innovating and adding to our growing portfolio. “With these four new sites, we’re not only expanding our footprint across key regions, but also enhancing the quality of the homes we deliver, working with our trusted partners. Our current pipeline of opportunity now sits at over £5bn GDC throughout the UK, confirming our position as the leading single-family housing provider in the country. “As demand for high-quality family rental housing continues to grow, we’re proud to play a leading role in supporting housing delivery, offering a professionally managed, secure solution for our customers.” Stephen Teagle, Chief Executive of Partnerships and Regeneration at Vistry Group, added: “We’re delighted to see this further extension of our long-standing partnership with Sigma Capital to deliver high-quality, professionally managed rental homes across the UK. These new developments reflect our shared commitment to accelerating housing delivery through diverse tenures, meeting local needs, and supporting the Government’s housing ambitions. Together, we’re creating thriving professionally managed communities with homes people are proud to live in.” Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals

Southwark Council has appointed Bouygues UK as its development partner for the  delivery of key worker homes in the borough.  The project will deliver approximately 150 affordable homes for key workers including  social workers, teachers, fire-fighters, police and NHS clinical staff, enabling them to live  close to their workplace, reducing travel times and offering an improved work-life balance  to those providing vital services for their community.  The rent levels will be equivalent to London Living Rent levels, calculated by Ward. The  housing will be available to key workers with a combined household annual salary of  between £26,000-£67,000 per year  The site, next to the Arnold Estate near Zone 1, with close proximity to London Bridge and  Bermondsey stations, will be the first development project under the council’s emerging  Affordable Housing Supplementary Planning Guidance.  The development includes the delivery of a new community centre, with a large flexible  double-height space and a number of smaller support spaces. The centre will be available  for all the community for a range of events, activities and for hire; and the council will be  seeking an independent operator to manage the space nearer to the time of opening.  Cllr Helen Dennis, Cabinet Member for New Homes and Sustainable Development said:  “Key workers are the backbone of any community and ensuring that their work is  recognised and their lives made easier is the least we can do to repay the efforts they  make every day. I’m really excited and proud that we’re going to be delivering around 150  homes for keyworkers in partnership with Bouygues UK.  “Creating affordable housing in London is always a challenge but Southwark Council is  dedicated to meeting this challenge head-on as part of our 2030 strategy. The new homes  will contribute positively to recruitment and retention of key workers in our borough,  shaping a positive future and making lives better.” Subject to planning, construction will start around mid-2026 on the new development,  with completion targeted for 2029.   Oliver Campbell, MD of Bouygues UK’s development arm said: “We are thrilled to have  been selected by Southwark Council as the development partner for this landmark  scheme in SE1. Building on our successful collaboration on several projects, including the  Tustin Estate scheme where we are delivering nearly 700 new homes, we value our strong  partnership with the council.   “Providing affordable housing for keyworkers is a vital step in supporting those who are  indispensable to the wellbeing of the community. This project represents an exciting  opportunity to further our collaboration and make a lasting contribution to the future of  Southwark, and we eagerly anticipate bringing this vision to fruition. Construction will  progress at pace, ensuring that these much-needed facilities are delivered promptly and  to the highest standards.”  Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals

Insulation specialist Actis has welcomed the £39 billion affordable housing investment announced in this week’s government spending review – but reiterates that offsite construction and training more builders will be key to the delivery of such homes over the coming decade. Actis is a long-time champion of tackling the housing crisis while at the same time ensuring that quality and thermal efficiency are of the highest possible standard. This involves embracing technologies and products which speed up the build process while investing in training the next generation of construction professionals says Mark Cooper, UK and Ireland sales director of Actis, whose Hybrid insulation system and two-in-one Eolis HC are popular choices for timber framers and housing developers. “This is described as the biggest cash injection into social housing in 50 years, which is excellent news,” he said. “But with an inadequately-sized construction workforce it’s important that homes which are quicker to build but don’t compromise on quality or thermal efficiency are part of the housing mix. This needs to be in tandem with encouraging more young people to enter the construction industry. “The government’s spring promise of £625 million to train 60,000 construction workers goes a considerable way towards helping with this, but with Checkatrade telling us that the UK needs another 1.3 million skilled workers and 350,000 apprentices to meet housing and net zero targets we must do more to increase the pool of building professionals at all levels.” Offsite-constructed homes can be built up to 30% more quickly than those of traditional brick and block, enabling developers to deliver homes at a faster rate and using fewer man hours per unit. “Many elements, including insulation, take place offsite, in the factory. Our insulation systems take between 25 and 50% less time to install than traditional alternatives, which all helps to speed up the process,” said Mark. “The site crew ‘just’ has to erect everything in the right order with a typical build time of between seven and 12 days, depending on the size of house. “Additionally, quality is far better controlled, and these timber frame homes can be thermally superb, cutting carbon emissions and saving money and resources.” Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals

By Tim Foreman, Managing Director of Land and New Homes, LRG: The additional funding for affordable housing is very welcome especially as the demand for affordable housing, and cost of building it, continues to increase. However, delivery of affordable housing would benefit from addressing a wider range of types and tenures than the government is currently providing for.  Specifically, shared ownership plays a very important role in getting people on to the housing ladder and yet seems to have been largely ignored by this government.  The popularity of shared ownership is increasing, partly because today’s first-time buyers are paying almost a third more to get on the property ladder than they were five years ago. Furthermore, in the last decade the number of private renters moving into home ownership fell by 23%. The government’s current stance on housing affordability – not least the increases in Stamp Duty and the freezing of Lifetime ISAs – has resulted in policies that are making it even harder for first time buyers to enter the market. Shared ownership deserves the same level of government-assisted marketing as benefited the now defunct Help to Buy scheme and it seems detrimental to the whole ‘growth agenda’ that the government is ignoring this important tenure. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals

Plans to deliver 127 new homes at Castleton Grange in Eye have been given the green light, as Mid Suffolk District Council’s planning committee approved Phase 2 of the development this week. The homes will be delivered by Persimmon Homes Suffolk and are designed to be zero carbon-ready, aligning with the developer’s commitment to sustainability and future-proofed living. The new phase will include 25 affordable homes for residents whose housing needs are not met by the open market. Ranging from two to five bedrooms, more than half of the properties will be built as adaptable homes, allowing them to accommodate the evolving needs of families over time. Each home will feature an air source heat pump and be equipped with an electric vehicle charging point as standard. Persimmon will also contribute £2.5 million toward local public services and infrastructure as part of its developer obligations, supporting the wider community as the development expands. Ian Hamilton, Managing Director of Persimmon Homes Suffolk, said: “We have included large areas of open space within the layout design for this phase to create a low-density scheme that provides opportunities for residents to enjoy the green space. “We are delighted that members were able to approve the scheme and allow us to continue building at Castleton Grange in order to meet local demand for new homes.” Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals

PfP Thrive, part of Places for People, has announced partnerships with the UK’s leading housing associations to deliver bespoke training programmes designed to address the critical skills shortage in the housing and construction sectors.  With demand for skilled workers at an all-time high, PfP Thrive is delivering tailored and comprehensive training modules for the UK housing and construction sectors and now, it has announced a new collaboration with 26 major industry names, including Havebury Housing, Amulius Housing, Futures Housing Group, Thrive Homes, Saffron Housing, Wates Group, Peabody Housing, East Midlands Homes (EMH), Alpha Living, Platform HG, Plymouth Community Homes, Novus Property Solutions, Gilmartin’s Group, Breck Group, Flagship Group, Notting Hill  Genesis, The Guinness Partnership, Alpha Living, Derventio Housing Trust, Anchor , Riverside, Nottingham Community Housing, Warrington Housing Association,  and West Kent Housing. Learning partners have also come on board, with the Retrofit Academy, City and Guilds, Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) and Study Academy supporting training and accreditation moving forward. By working together, the partnership will rapidly train new and existing colleagues within the housing sector, ensuring the sector has the expertise needed to maintain homes, meet retrofit targets, and deliver ambitious housebuilding programmes. The initiative will focus on traditional trades, emerging skills and Housing specific learning ensuring the workforce is futureproofed to meet the evolving needs of the industry.  In addition to technical training, PfP Thrive will also offer compliance courses, apprenticeships, and leadership development programmes, helping to create a pipeline of skilled professionals at all levels.  Tom Arey, Director of PfP Thrive, said: “The skills shortage is one of the greatest challenges facing the housing and construction sectors today. The only way to solve it is through genuine cross-industry collaboration, and that’s exactly what we’ve built with these partnerships and look forward to supporting more organisations across our sector.   “By working together, we can equip both the existing and new housing workforce with the skills, knowledge and behaviours the sector needs to thrive. This is about securing the future of our sector, our workforce, and ultimately, the homes we build and maintain.”  Operating from 20 sites nationwide, PfP Thrive aims to train over 100 apprentices in its first year, with a new academy and central hub in Derby welcoming its first intake this autumn.  For more information about the organisation and its training programmes, visit: https://www.placesforpeople.co.uk/pfp-thrive/. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals