Winckworth Sherwood has advised leading rooftop developer, Apex Airspace on its funding deals totalling £19 million with the government’s housing accelerator, Homes England and with the Greater London Authority, to deliver homes across various sites in London as part of a drive to find innovative ways to address the nationwide housing crisis. Apex is a pioneer of airspace development where unused airspace above residential, commercial and public buildings is developed as a location for new homes and is working closely with London local authorities and housing associations.
Francesco Ferrari and Deborah Rowntree led the firm’s finance and real estate teams with assistance from Gemini Cecil, Kinjal Patel and Krissun Soodin. The Winckworth Sherwood team worked to structure both deals and ensure that all contracts and reports were suitable for the specific technical requirements of airspace development. Both deals required bespoke financing arrangements to suit this new and innovative approach to building.
Apex deliver new housing by using off-site construction methods and then installing the new homes onto the rooftops of existing buildings. This minimises disruption to existing residents and surrounding neighbours, as well as ensuring that the homes can be delivered at the quality, pace and scale needed. It can also provide required improvements to the building for existing residents increasing the value of the entire building and benefitting the wider community.
Deborah Rowntree, senior associate in the real estate finance team said: “Airspace is still relatively untrodden ground, and it was an exciting challenge to define the terms and develop the framework for these unique arrangements. We are delighted to be working with market leading innovators like Apex. The deals between Apex and Homes England and the GLA are a perfect example of the type innovation we need to embrace to ensure we build much-needed new homes in this country.