Who has bought Nottingham's Broad Marsh and what will they be doing with it?
An agreement being signed for the purchase of the Broad Marsh site after five years of uncertainty has been hailed as a "major milestone" for Nottingham. The operator of the Broadmarsh Shopping Centre collapsed in 2020 and Nottingham City Council first took control of the site in July of that year.
Work has been progressing at a snail's pace ever since on redeveloping the shopping centre. Work in the wider area has included the opening of the new Central Library, the pedestrianisation of Collin Street and the opening of the Green Heart park.
Yet half of the former shopping centre still stands derelict, hardly a sight to entice visitors heading into the city from the train station. The Broad Marsh development, despite its huge potential, was the subject of several failed bids to the Levelling Up Fund under the previous government.
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The announcement in December that the East Midlands Mayor was providing more than £3 million for the demolition of the remaining shopping centre was the first bit of positive news for years. Much more significantly, the city council then confirmed a "public sector" buyer was being lined up and it was announced on March 31 that Homes England were taking it on. But who are Homes England and what exactly will they be doing with the site?
Homes England is a non-departmental public body, meaning it is funded to deliver a government service but does not sit within a ministerial department. The body acts as the government's housing and regeneration agency and came into being in 2018, though its history stretches back much further.
The organisation's roots go back to 1964, when the Housing Corporation was founded to fund affordable housing and regulate housing associations - not-for-profit social landlords. The organisation was eventually dissolved with a view to setting up a new body that had a greater focus on the broader mission of regeneration, alongside housing.
Homes England is governed by a board of 12 members appointed by the Housing Secretary. The organisation's current chief executive is Eamonn Boylan.
Homes England publishes statistics every six months on its work and between April and September 2024, programmes it delivered saw over 14,000 new homes completed. Work also started on over 15,000 new affordable homes.
Under the affordable homes programme, Homes England has £8 billion of government funding to deliver at least 100,000 affordable homes outside London by the end of March 2026. As part of its broader regeneration ambition, Homes England recently announced a £250 million joint venture with Oaktree Capital Management and Greycoat Real Estate to "unlock and accelerate" huge development sites across England.
The partnership targets large or complex sites with the potential to deliver more than 1,000 homes each. The partnership acquires sites to masterplan and develop before infrastructure work is carried out so that a development site is ready to offer to housebuilders. Given this remit and the fact that the partnership was launched in December 2024, it is likely that the Broad Marsh site was acquired through this partnership.
The i Paper reported throughout 2024 on anger among Homes England staff about alleged failure's to manage spending. The paper revealed that nearly £400,000 was spent by Homes England on an internal staff meeting, with the paper quoting insiders who described the agency as a "dysfunctional" and "sick" organisation.
The investigations reportedly angered former chief executive Peter Denton. Homes England announced in late 2024 that chief executive Peter Denton and chair Peter Freeman would both be stepping down from their roles. Mr Denton has already stepped aside for Eamonn Boylan, whilst Mr Freeman's successor will be appointed later in the year.
Homes England's purchase includes all land to the west of the Green Heart, NCP's Maid Marian Way Car Park, Severns House and the former college site on Maid Marian Way. The NCP car park and Maid Marian Way college will both be demolished as part of the plans.
Homes England says it will now "de-risk" the site by first focusing on demolition work, with city council leader Neghat Khan having said that this work could start imminently. Councillor Khan previously said: "We've got confidence that once they sign, it's all go, go, go."
Teams from Homes England will also be working to attract developers to then deliver the homes, employment spaces and leisure facilities envisioned for the future of the Broad Marsh. The development is expected to create around 1,000 homes, up to 20,000 square metres of retail, office and community spaces and around 2,000 full-time jobs.
Nottingham City Council expects overall construction work on the wider development to begin in 2029. Before then, separate work on a major Nottingham University Hospitals Trust centre will get underway soon ahead of a 2026 opening.
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