Pat Ritchie CBE, Chair of Homes England discusses the importance of regeneration to supporting growth and resident wellbeing across the North. She shares how Homes England is ready to work as part of strong partnerships to bring confidence and long-term change to areas. 

Housing-led regeneration uses new and better homes to transform whole areas, create opportunities and support long-term economic growth. This means creating mixed-use, sustainable places with good jobs nearby, stronger high streets, better public spaces, reliable services, green areas, and opportunities that support people’s health and wellbeing. It’s a broader, more holistic approach that transforms the fabric of a place, not just its housing. Done well, regeneration is one of the most powerful tools we have to help places flourish, reduce inequalities and rebuild confidence in communities that matter deeply to the people who live there. 

This matters particularly in the North of England, where the challenge is not only how many homes are built, but the overall strength, quality and resilience of local housing markets. In many areas, regeneration is essential for creating opportunity and supporting sustained growth – especially where the market cannot shift on its own. 

The effects of regeneration build gradually, unfolding over time and sometimes across a whole generation. A good example is the 40-year transformation of the Newcastle and Gateshead Quayside. A former industrial river edge has gradually become a lively, welcoming place that feels part of the city again. As confidence grew, businesses moved in, people made it their home, and Newcastle re-established its connection to the river. It shows how much can be achieved through long-term care and commitment.  

Homes England is ready to work closely with partners to help bring that same confidence and long-term change to more places. To help us achieve this, in our Strategic Plan 2025-2030 we commit to working alongside local authorities to identify and enable the greatest opportunities for long-term urban growth and regeneration. We will also give social housing providers greater access to the full range of our tools and resources, including opportunities to partner on large-scale regeneration schemes. And through the National Housing Bank, we will collaborate with developers and investors across residential and commercial markets to support private investment in mixed-use regeneration. 

Regeneration and delivery go hand in hand

When regeneration is done well, it builds market confidence, helps reduce risk and creates the conditions for new homes to come forward at scale over time. And early delivery brings energy and credibility to regeneration, giving communities something real and visible to hold on to. 

This is especially true on complex sites. In Blackpool and at Holbeck in the South Bank of Leeds, regeneration is paving the way for new homes while also supporting wider economic, cultural and place-based change. In both cases, regeneration hasn’t slowed delivery, it has made it possible. 

Regeneration as market-shaping, not subsidy

Regeneration is a way of helping local markets grow strong enough to work well independently. Across parts of the North, there is enormous, untapped potential held back by complex sites and ageing infrastructure. Our role is to step in and work with partners when the challenges are greatest and stay long enough to unlock change at scale, creating the certainty that invites private investment to follow. 

A place-based, partnership-led approach

Our Strategic Plan sets out a genuinely place-based approach to regeneration, starting with local ambition and recognising that every area is different, whether in former industrial towns or a rapidly growing city centre. 

Strong partnerships are essential. Large-scale regeneration only works when organisations pull in the same direction. Homes England works with Mayors, strategic authorities, local authorities, and Registered Providers, as well as private-sector partners who bring investment and delivery expertise. Our role is to help align these efforts, reduce risk and enable everyone to move faster together. 

Homes England has a long history of partnering to deliver regeneration across the country. The English Cities Fund (ECF) is a good example, our joint venture with Legal & General and Muse that has helped unlock complex urban sites and deliver over 2000 homes, commercial space and wider place-making. Through ECF, projects such as Wolverhampton Smithgate and Hull’s East Bank Urban Village, are transforming challenging brownfield land into new neighbourhoods with homes, public spaces and vital infrastructure. 

Alongside ECF, partnerships such as MADE, our joint venture with Barratt, Redrow and the Housing Growth Partnership, help acquire and unlock large, complex residential sites. Together, these long-term partnerships enable places to regenerate at scale, with the right mix of homes, investment and infrastructure to support sustainable growth. 

Using public funding with intent and flexibility to unlock investment

Public funding is still essential to regeneration, but how we use it matters just as much as how much is available. Through the Social and Affordable Homes Programme, we are working with Registered Providers to support regeneration by broadening the mix of homes, improving quality and helping to anchor wider place-making. 

New long-term funding secured at the 2025 Spending Review, together with the creation of the National Housing Bank, gives us more flexibility to respond to complex delivery challenges. That flexibility is important because regeneration rarely follows a straight line. Different places need different tools at different times, and what works in one area may not work in another. 

Our Investment Roadmap is clear that public money should be used purposefully, directed to where it can unlock delivery and attract private investment. That includes backing innovation in construction and delivery where it can raise quality, productivity and speed. 

Regeneration at the scale the North needs cannot be achieved by the public sector alone. A central part of our role is to give investors’ confidence by improving certainty, reducing risk and supporting strong, credible pipelines of schemes. 

Keeping regeneration at the heart of place-making

Housing-led regeneration takes time and long-term commitment. But it remains one of the most effective ways to support growth, improve residents’ wellbeing and make sure existing communities benefit from the changes happening around them. 

We’ve seen this in places like Collyhurst in Manchester and Plymouth City Centre, where new homes are being delivered alongside better connections, new amenities and a renewed sense of place, with a mix of sustainable, social and affordable homes for sale. 

Our Strategic Plan and Investment Roadmap set out our role: bringing forward more homes, strengthening local markets, unlocking investment and working our partners to deliver lasting change. Regeneration must be part of the answer if we want real growth across the North. Homes England is ready to play its part, but long-term success depends on strong partnerships across the sector. 

The perspectives collection showcases a range of opinions about regeneration. The views expressed in the articles are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the position of the NHC or the Renew inquiry.