By The UK government has set a target of 300,000 new homes per year, yet current rates of delivery won’t achieve targets nor match demand, with a projected shortfall of 4 million homes in England by 2031.*
During 2017 only 12% of new houses were delivered by SME’s, this is compared to 40% in 1988, less than 0.7% were delivered by local authorities. This decline has been attributed to the fragmented nature of the industry, slow and inefficient processes and a decline in staff. Current processes are primarily manual whereby individuals are tasked with manual and isolated tasks susceptible to individual interpretation. These processes lack cohesion and are therefore resource-intensive.
A number of factors are driving transformation particularly fast in the UK, including:
- Budgetary pressures
- Legacy IT systems which are overly centralised and non-responsive
- Availability of new technologies like AI, cloud computing and data science.
These factors combined with the most commonly reported challenge facing SME builders, including the lack of viable land has meant that growth has been significantly restricted and productivity limited, resulting in an 80% contraction in SME builders over the last 25 years.
To resurrect the SME housebuilding market, building processes must become quicker, cheaper and less risky enabling SMEs to more effectively identify and develop viable land. The supply chain must become integrated with clear and easy information transferral between stakeholders, removing lengthy data exchange processes.
With over 25 years of direct experience of these challenges, Fastr Property Limited was incorporated in 2017 to address these pain points through a digital solution.
Fastr Property is an innovative prop-tech company developing a world-first autonomous residential development ecosystem, that will accelerate and streamline planning and housing delivery.
Through a combination of innovative modules and technologies, Fastr is set to revolutionise the way in which residential planning and housing delivery operates; delivering significant improvements alongside numerous economic benefits.
Following the award of an innovation grant in 2018 Fastr developed its land identification module.
Fastr has a comprehensive plan to assist in the delivery of 20,000 homes per annum matched to local authority needs, around 7% of the government target. With our laser focus on small scale, low risk, high probability infill residential housing developments.
Results from our most recent 3-month pilot programme saw Fastr reach out to 1,450 of the 70,000+ identified targets (in the South East) resulting in:
- over 60 serious responses (5% return).
- the potential to deliver over 650 units
- a gross development value of over £350m
- a £25m planning gain
- potential revenue of over £14m to Fastr.
Fastr currently has the ability to reach out to 1,000 properties per week and anticipates the potential total revenue from the current leads to be in excess of £200m.
Fastr Property is looking to apply for the Future Fund and needs your support.
The Future Fund will provide government loans to UK-based companies ranging from £125,000 to £5 million, Subject to equal match funding from private investors.
This offering is only open to Sophisticated Investors and High Net Worth Individuals.
To find out more please follow this ‘Future Fund’.
*Source date: [Heriot-Watt University, 2018], [HBF, 2017].
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