Housebuilder Berkeley has said its future delivery of new homes will be compromised by the “planning environment and regulatory uncertainty” unless issues are urgently resolved.
Berkeley’s pre-tax profit for the year to 30 April 2023 was £604m, up 9.5% on the previous year and in line with guidance given in the beginning of this exercise.
The company added that it was on track to make profits of at least 1.05 billion pounds over the next two financial years combined. But he said he would be “cautious about committing to new investments until the conditions for growth are in place.”
The value of Berkeley’s private sales bookings for 2022/23 was about 15 per cent lower than the previous year and it expects sales for the current year to be a further 20 per cent lower.
The company said the “future delivery of new homes [will be] endangered by [the] planning environment and regulatory uncertainty unless resolved urgently”.
Chief executive Rob Perrins said the company’s focus on long-term brownfield sites made it “the UK’s only large-scale developer aligned with the government’s put-first agenda”.
“A deeper understanding and recognition of the benefits and challenges of this highly sustainable form of development is required within the planning system to ensure that the huge opportunity it presents for society, communities and the economy is not lost for future generations,” he added. dogs
“The challenge increases when added to the uncertainty of an ever-evolving and increasingly burdensome regulatory environment.
“Although well-intentioned, this is limiting investment in brownfield regeneration and house-building. If housing delivery is to be sustained, the planning system must respond to these challenges and it needs certainty in the regulatory environment as a matter of immediate priority.”
Berkeley said that uncertainty contributed to its decision not to put its modular factory in Kent into full production.
The company said 96 modules had been installed at the Kidbrooke Village project in Greenwich. But he pointed to the decision by other parties to exit the industry due to the cost and efficiency impact of regulatory and planning uncertainty on a stable production pipeline.”
In this context, Perrins said that “Berkeley’s immediate focus is to evolve the product to remove cost, weight and complexity while continuing to work with the many statutory bodies to secure the various regulatory approvals required for a delivery efficient future. We will not put the factory into full production until that is achieved.”
Overall, the company said it will “remain cautious with new investments and sales launches given the volatile operating environment, which includes the current macroeconomic, political and regulatory environments.”
