Can a different kind of partnership become a new model for unlocking complex regeneration sites?
Peter O’Brien, Executive Director for Placemaking and Growth at Hounslow Council
The biggest challenge facing London right now is housing delivery and viability.
Everyone agrees we need more homes but delivering them has become harder in the current market. At the same time, local authorities are being asked to deliver bigger, more complex regeneration projects than ever before.
Traditionally, we have looked to public-private partnerships to unlock these opportunities. Those partnerships remain vital. But as sites become more complex and public resources become more constrained, there is a growing question for our sector:
Could a different kind of partnership help unlock regeneration opportunities that might otherwise struggle to come forward?
In Hounslow, we like to think of ourselves as an innovative borough. That means not only thinking differently about places but also thinking differently about how we work together to deliver them.
Future Feltham is one example of that approach.
A public-public-public partnership
What makes Future Feltham interesting is not simply the scale of the opportunity, although it is one of the largest regeneration opportunities in West London. It is the partnership behind it.
Future Feltham brings together Hounslow Council, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Greater London Authority (GLA) in what we believe is a genuinely innovative public-public-public partnership. Local, regional and national government working together around a shared vision for place.
The vision is to transform the MoD site into a new green, intergenerational neighbourhood, with the potential to deliver over 1,000 homes, including private homes, social rent homes and Forces First homes, alongside new employment space and vital community infrastructure. Together, this will deliver real benefits for residents and businesses.
It is a powerful example of how partnership can unlock opportunities that no single organisation could deliver on its own.
Beyond Feltham
Going back to the question at the start, the site also has significance beyond Feltham itself.
Across the country, public bodies own substantial land assets. Yet too often those assets are considered in isolation. Future Feltham raises a different possibility: what happens when public sector partners align land, infrastructure, planning and investment around a shared long-term vision?
In a time where viability challenges are slowing delivery across the sector, that question feels increasingly relevant.
Ultimately, regeneration is judged not by strategies and masterplans, but by delivery. What matters most is creating confidence that delivery can happen.
If successful, it has the potential to act as a pilot for how surplus public land, including MoD land, can be unlocked in a coordinated, public-sector led way that maximises public value.
Progress so far
The MoD recently launched its £450m regeneration project to find a development partner, working alongside Hounslow Council and the GLA to deliver more than 2,000 homes, the majority of which will be affordable.
We have also made strong progress across the wider Future Feltham programme. A package of Phase 1 accelerator sites is progressing, supported by master planning and infrastructure work. Feltham Assembly Hall is moving forward as a council-led scheme, acting as an early catalyst for delivery.
Growth that is truly inclusive
For growth to be truly inclusive, regeneration must create opportunities as well as homes. New neighbourhoods need to connect people to jobs and skills, not simply provide places to live. That is why infrastructure investment is so important. In Feltham, improving connectivity to Heathrow and surrounding employment areas will be critical to ensuring that local people can benefit from the opportunities that growth creates.
More broadly, it raises an important challenge for regeneration across London: how do we ensure that investment translates into improved life chances for existing communities, not just physical change?
What does success look like?
So, what would success look like for Feltham over the next 5, 10 and 20 years?
In the short term, success means building momentum and confidence in delivery. It means seeing sites coming forward, infrastructure investment progress and new homes being built.
Over the medium term, success means creating a thriving town centre, attracting investment, supporting local businesses and connecting residents to new opportunities.
But in 20 years’ time, success goes back to my comment earlier about growth being truly inclusive. It will be measured by whether Feltham has become a place where people choose to live, work, visit, grow and invest. A place that endures.
As London continues to search for ways to accelerate housing delivery and maximise public value, we should be exploring different ways of unlocking complex regeneration opportunities. Public-public-public partnerships may not be the answer for every project. But Future Feltham shows what can happen when public sector organisations work together towards a shared goal.
That feels like a conversation worth having.
We look forward to exploring that conversation at LREF.