Ealing signed off marketing its six stalled housing sites on 7 October. Advisers say the half-built blocks on five cannot be saved. Bids from December.
Ealing Council is to put six half-built housing sites on the open market, three years after their builders collapsed. Between them, the sites were meant to deliver 230 homes, most of them for low-rent council tenants.
The plan is set out in a decision report due to be signed off on Wednesday 7 October by Councillor Louise Brett, the deputy leader and cabinet member for genuinely affordable homes. The council’s notice of the decision lists it as a key decision affecting more than one ward.
Updated 9 October: the decision was signed on 7 October and published on 8 October as “Recommendations Approved (subject to call-in)”, according to the council’s decision record. The call-in deadline is 14 October; if it is not called in, it takes effect on 15 October. The same evening, cabinet agreed to procure a builder for the Mandeville scheme in Northolt and approved its £438,597.54 budget, subject to the GLA confirming its grant, according to the draft cabinet minutes.
The report’s most striking finding is about the buildings already standing. Independent advisers concluded that the part-built structures are not viable to keep on five of the six sites. Only at Southall Market Car Park might the existing frame still be completed, and that depends on more surveys.
The six sites
Building stopped at all six in June and July 2023, when Henry Construction Projects Ltd and 4 Square Services Ltd went into administration or liquidation, the report says.
| Site | Homes planned | Builder |
|---|---|---|
| Southall Market Car Park | 101 London Affordable Rent, 24 shared ownership | 4 Square Services |
| Dean Gardens, West Ealing | 21 London Affordable Rent, 10 shared ownership, 22 open market sale | Henry Construction |
| Chesterton and Evesham Close, Greenford | 25 London Affordable Rent | Henry Construction |
| Wood End, Greenford | 11 London Affordable Rent | Henry Construction |
| Shackleton Road, Southall | 10 London Affordable Rent | Henry Construction |
| Norwood Road, Southall | 6 London Affordable Rent | Henry Construction |
That is 174 homes at London Affordable Rent, 34 for shared ownership and 22 for open market sale. Four of the sites belong to Broadway Living Registered Provider, the council’s housing company. Cabinet voted in June to wind that company down and move its assets into council ownership.
Why the council is not finishing them itself
The report weighs two options:
- Build and keep the homes. The council would retain them as council housing, but it would need “significant additional investment” and carry the building risk.
- Sell the sites as they are to a developer who would build out the approved schemes. The risk passes on, but so do the homes and any future rent.
Officers say direct council delivery would now cost “significantly more” than other ways of getting affordable homes, such as buying them. Their reviews found defects, incomplete records, unresolved warranty issues and “wider concerns regarding structural and fire safety compliance”.
The report also says there is no new money coming. Officers have talked to the Greater London Authority, which part-funded the schemes, but “no additional grant funding is currently available”. Changing the schemes too much could mean paying existing grant back.
So the recommendation is to test the market. No site is being sold yet. Offers would come back to Cabinet, with a recommendation, before anything is agreed.
What happens next
If the decision is signed, the report’s timetable is:
- October to November 2026: appoint specialist marketing agents
- December 2026 to March 2027: the sites are marketed
- April to July 2027: bids evaluated and negotiated
- September 2027: a further Cabinet report with the offers and a recommended way forward
The marketing exercise would cost up to £200,000, covering consultants, legal work and site surveys. The report expects sale receipts to more than cover it. If the council does sell, section 123 of the Local Government Act 1972 requires it to achieve “best consideration”, the legal section notes.
Dean Gardens had already been earmarked for demolition and a redesign. The report says that plan will now be reviewed alongside the other five sites.
The report says the council has recovered compensation through the performance bond on Southall Market Car Park. Other claims through the insolvency process are still going on.
The other housing decision that evening
The same evening, Cabinet agreed the next stage of the Mandeville scheme in Northolt. Its report describes 100 council homes for social rent, in three apartment blocks and a terrace of townhouses.
Cabinet approved £438,597.54 to finish the design and run a tender for a builder. A revised planning application is due this month. The report says the tender will put more weight on bidders’ financial strength, as a lesson from Henry Construction’s collapse. The council’s announcement says building could start in 2028, with homes ready in 2030, subject to planning and further approvals.
Councillor Brett said in that announcement that more than 6,000 local families are waiting for a council home.
What it means for you
- If you live next to one of the six sites: nothing changes straight away. The sites stay as they are while the council markets them through the winter. Any sale would come back to Cabinet in about a year.
- If you are on the housing register: the 174 low-rent homes these sites were meant to provide are not coming soon. The report says marketing will also test “alternative delivery approaches”, so what a buyer would build is not yet known.
- To follow it: the decision was signed on 7 October and can be called in by councillors until 14 October, on the council’s decision record.
For other schemes going through the system, see Ealing planning news.
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