Strategy4 is a successful model for shaping community spaces
The Platform4 project, a newly launched government-backed development company, aims to deliver up to 40,000 new homes on surplus railway land across the UK over the next decade. The initiative, targeting urban renewal and housing growth near railway hubs in cities such as Manchester, Newcastle, Cambridge, and Nottingham, plans around £1 billion in residential and mixed-use developments [1][2][3][4].
The project, a strategic alignment of Network Rail Property and London & Continental Railways (LCR), consolidates their property and development functions to improve efficiency, attract private investment (expected over £350 million), and accelerate housing delivery. This merger is projected to generate an additional £227 million in value through faster and more coordinated development [1][2][3][4].
Bek Seeley, former Lendlease managing director and chair of the government’s Euston housing delivery group, has been appointed as the chair of Platform4 to lead these efforts. Seeley stated that Platform4 will create new homes, jobs, and stimulate economic growth, while also creating sustainable places [1][3][4].
Key flagship sites for initial development include:
- Newcastle Forth Goods Yard: up to 600 homes with further expansion potential.
- Manchester Mayfield: plans for 1,500 new homes as part of a wider regeneration effort.
- Cambridge: mixed-use development including 425 homes.
- Nottingham: new 200-home development building on the success of an earlier project [1].
Platform4 also aims to regenerate disused goods yards and vacant industrial sites, promoting community spaces, green areas, retail, and jobs as part of wider neighborhood transformations around transport hubs.
While the project has received a positive response from industry leaders like Richard Beresford, chief executive of the National Federation of Builders (NFB), concerns have been raised by Rico Wojtulewicz, head of policy and planning at the NFB. Wojtulewicz emphasised the importance of viability and ambition for the projects' success [2].
The government's timescale anticipates that the Platform4 project will take around a decade to fully complete [1][2][3][4]. However, some of the Platform4 sites have planning permission dating back decades, and it may need to be reassessed to deliver more for today's communities. Wojtulewicz urged the government to explore community density, where projects are large in scale because they deliver all a community wants and needs [2].
This initiative forms part of the government’s broader "Plan for Change," which commits to building 1.5 million homes nationally while optimising use of brownfield land and public assets [2][4]. Transport Secretary Hedi Alexander announced the plan to build 40,000 new homes on surplus railway land in Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, and Cambridge [3].
As the Platform4 project progresses, it is expected to set a new standard in placemaking and contribute significantly to the UK's housing and development landscape.
- Platform4, a new government-backed development company, is targeting urban renewal and housing growth, aiming to deliver up to 40,000 new homes across the UK over the next decade, with a focus on surplus railway land in cities like Manchester, Newcastle, Cambridge, and Nottingham.
- The Platform4 project, a joint venture of Network Rail Property and London & Continental Railways (LCR), plans around £1 billion in residential and mixed-use developments, projecting an additional £227 million in value through faster and more coordinated development.
- Bek Seeley, former Lendlease managing director, has been appointed as the chair of Platform4, leading efforts to create new homes, jobs, and stimulate economic growth while also creating sustainable places.
- Key flagship sites for initial development include the Newcastle Forth Goods Yard, Manchester Mayfield, Cambridge, and Nottingham, with expectations of up to 600 homes in Newcastle, 1,500 homes in Manchester, 425 homes in Cambridge, and 200 homes in Nottingham.
- While the government's timescale anticipates a decade for the Platform4 project's completion, concerns have been raised about the need to reassess the decades-old planning permissions to deliver more for today's communities, with a focus on community density and fulfilling a community's broader needs in scale.
