Morgan Sindall and Hertfordshire County Council have formed a joint venture partnership to develop sites worth up to £2bn.

The 50:50 partnership, to be formally known as Chalkdene Developments, will provide new homes and jobs across the county through a series of housing-led developments on the Council’s surplus land. The partnership agreement between Herts Living Ltd and CSRH is for 15 years, with the option to extend to a further five.

The partnership will focus on 12 locations and have the capacity to deliver in excess of 500 properties, providing much-needed homes across the county in close proximity to existing infrastructure. Capacity has been established, through the OJEU procurement process to extend this to approx. 40 sites with a gross development value of up to £2bn, as stated in the OJEU notice. The partnership will benefit from working with other companies within the Morgan Sindall Group to enable it to deliver the works at pace. These include the Group’s partnership homes developer, Lovell, and its Construction and Infrastructure division.

The development partnership also has the potential to deliver schemes under the Government’s One Public Estate initiative and on behalf of other public sector authorities in addition to Hertfordshire County Council.

John Morgan, Chief Executive of Morgan Sindall Group, said: “This win demonstrates the potential for our Investments division to become a meaningful contributor to Group profits. It also reflects our ability to leverage our diversified portfolio of businesses to offer our partners and customers a comprehensive solution spanning strategic partnerships and project delivery. We understand how important the development of new housing is for Hertfordshire and are excited to have the opportunity to work with Herts Living in achieving the Council’s vision.”

Steve Faber, managing director of Herts Living, said: “We are delighted to be working with Morgan Sindall Investments to deliver new, high quality, sustainable houses that will help the county to meet the needs of its growing population, reduce the housing shortage and provide much needed social housing and community assets. Doing this will also release significant capital over the long term for strategic expenditure and investment.”