Housing
We have the potential to deliver up to 30,000 new homes, to help address the national housing need
Through our strategic land portfolio, we have the potential to deliver up to 30,000 new homes, helping to address the national housing need. We work with local authorities, communities, SMEs and other partners to support places that are affordable, sustainable and responsive to local priorities. Through an Impact Partnership Joint Venture with Lendlease, we have the potential to add a further 27,500 homes, giving The Crown Estate a pipeline of up to 60,000 new homes.
By working closely with communities, we gain a better understanding of local needs and use this insight to shape masterplans that reflect their priorities and aspirations. This helps ensure that new homes are planned alongside the infrastructure, green space, services and wider place outcomes that support successful communities over the long term.
We think about affordability across the whole lifecycle of a home: what it costs to build, buy, rent and live in. Across our pipeline, we are exploring how sustainable design, lower energy and occupancy costs, new tenures and products, construction innovation and early community engagement can help create homes that better meet local needs and aspirations.
We are also trialling new approaches to sustainable housing design and construction through three pilot projects across the country, which together will deliver nearly 200 energy-efficient homes built using modular construction, low-carbon materials and community-led design principles. These projects are designed to test how innovation can help address the combined challenges that homes are expensive to build, buy, rent and live in.
East Hemel, Hertfordshire
At the heart of the wider Hemel Garden Communities development is East Hemel, where we have submitted an outline planning application for up to 4,000 new homes, with the potential for a further 1,500 homes, with a mix of ownership types, including a significant number of affordable homes.
Alongside housing, the development will provide 1.8 million sq ft of commercial space, schools, community facilities and new walking, cycling and public transport connections that will integrate the development with the surrounding area. The site will also help to create thousands of jobs through the commercial spaces and innovation hub, helping to strengthen economic growth across Hemel and Hertfordshire.
More than a third of the site will be retained and enhanced as open green space for nature, recreation and climate resilience, including wildlife habitats, green corridors and a 63-hectare country park.
The proposals have been shaped through widespread collaboration and consultation. Over 18 months we have delivered our most extensive engagement programme to date, involving local people through digital tools, site visits, drop-in events, school sessions and a two-day community design workshop. This has informed the concept masterplan and helped ensure the proposals respond to local priorities, including the needs and aspirations communities have for homes, infrastructure, green space and long-term quality of life.
Housing demonstration projects
We’re piloting three projects in Westwick Row (Hertfordshire), Wootton (Bedfordshire), and Knutsford (Cheshire) to deliver nearly 200 energy-efficient homes using modular construction, low-carbon materials, and community-led design.
In partnership with leading SMEs GS8, Igloo Regeneration, and TOWN, each home is designed to achieve low embodied carbon, reduced energy use, and a 15% biodiversity net gain.
These projects also test innovative commercial models and aim to build capacity among smaller developers. Our goal is to understand how innovation can help address affordability and sustainability across the full housing lifecycle. This includes how homes are designed and built, how people live in them and how much they cost to run, before looking to how we can scale these approaches and share insights with the industry to support delivery across the UK.
At Wootton, for instance, we are looking at high-quality sustainable designs that lead to net zero energy bills for the first 10 years for owners and occupiers, reducing the cost of living in the home as well as the environmental impact.
