NHC’s Tom Kennedy runner up in Thinkhouse Early Career Researcher’s Prize

Our Policy & Public Affairs Manager, Tom Kennedy, has come runner up in the Thinkhouse Early Career Researcher’s Prize for his work on our ‘Brownfield First’ report.

‘Brownfield First – how devolved brownfield funding can build a new generation of homes in the North’ looked at why long-term funding for brownfield development is needed, and how devolution can increase the impact. The research included discussions with Mayoral Combined Authorities across the North of England.

The research found that there is capacity for up to 320,000 new homes on brownfield land in the North. A10-year £4.2 billion funding programme to remediate all the North’s brownfield land is needed to make these homes a reality.

Patrick Murray, NHC Executive Director for Policy & Public Affairs said: “I’m delighted that Tom has earned some well-deserved recognition for his work on Brownfield First from the prestigious Thinkhouse ECRP.

“His excellent research for Brownfield First was timely with the government aiming to build 1.5 million new homes this parliament. The Devolution White paper has also confirmed that Mayors will play an increasingly central role in housing delivery including more control of grant funding to support regeneration and housing delivery, something that the paper made a case for. The findings from the research are actively shaping government policy on brownfield housing development.”

Read Brownfield First here.

We welcomed the recent allocation of almost £30m in funding through the Brownfield Infrastructure and Land fund for Bradford City Council’s ‘Bradford City Village’ project, which will deliver 1,000 new homes in the city centre. This year we organised a visit with senior civil servants responsible for brownfield land funding to see the plans for this exciting project.