I’d say about 40%. We’ve managed to keep it alive and we’re introducing new lenders. I think what’s kept it alive was this centre, because we were able to bring people in and say, ‘we do it properly’. (Banks) use the lack of money they have to lend to say, do we really want this type of stuff. We argue, yes, you do. I’m speaking at a conference at the end of this month to the building societies and arguing that they need to. It gives them good clients. There’s £22 billion of lending that the building societies are going to do this year. If we could get just 2.5% of that directed towards self-build we would build more houses than would be built by the housebuilding federation and will create or maintain about 30,000 jobs. There’s a lot to be said for the activity. ... One of (our) key products is a trade card, where we are aggregating the purchasing power of customers. We have various partners. Can you explain how that trade card works? Through a master account as it were. And we have specific deals, we have deals with merchants, we have deals with individual companies like magnet kitchens or homebase, people like that. What people also like (about our trade village), and it is quite nice, is.. if I was at an exhibition and I (looked at something), somebody would be on me trying to sell me something. Whereas now I can walk around here and have a look. So you’ve almost created a neutral space between the manufacturers and the consumers. Yes. But also the leads (the manufacturers) get are strong, because (if they receive an information request) somebody has actually (scanned) that, unless its a four year old who’s come round with mum and dad! But somebody is saying ‘please send me more information’ and the detail they get is fabulous. . What is the level of resistance from the big speculative housebuilders, your Wimpeys, Barratts, people like that? Are they worried, are they resistive? Are they open to it? I wouldn’t say they’re open to it. I’d say we’re largely irrelevant to it, although I think more and more are happy to see plots being made available, being sold to the customers. No I don’t think they really have a firm view on self-build. What they’re a wee bit worried about is whether the recent government policy announcement by Grant Shapps, they’re worried the self-builder may get preferential treatment. ... So, this is the renovation zone. We’ve built a wreck, it’s four identical facades, you put on your helmet and (on the audio guide) you hear Tommy Walsh... Essentially it takes
you on a journey through a wreck.. So we start with what’s wrong. So then you start to work in how to fix it. I think with renovation what we’re really keen to get across is to people who’d say, ‘well I’d want to renovate something before I build something’, that the opposite is true: it’s much easier to build than it is to renovate. So they need to understand, it’s the down-taking, strip it back and see what you’ve got left, if anything. So introducing the realities of contingency etc. Exactly. So Buildstore is operating as market integrator from the private sector, but to what extent is the public sector involved? It’s both. We spent this morning at the borough council offices where they’re working in tandem to create 14 or 15 plots. The council have land they want to make available to sell. But they can’t do it either.. They form a partnership and say, here’s a scheme, we’d like you to do it. You can have a fairly wide remit in terms of design, but it must be as green as it comes. They’ve got lots and lots of land. I’m going up to another council tonight and they’ve got plots they’d like to sell. More and more we’re seeing that. And to what extent to you expect to cater not just for individuals but groups and communities in the future? Certainly, group and community self-build, like we’re doing with Swindon Borough Council, 15 local people will be asked do you want to build your own house in Swindon? The local authority are accepting within reasonable grounds that they’ll have to provide (the land) that bit cheaper. But we know we can create a three bedroom family home for a local Swindon family for £160k and it’s probably valued at £200. More than that they can actually create it and get it. What are councils such as Swindon focused on acheiving? Family homes? Eco homes? Probably the eco aspect is the incentive. The type of housing, yes would be subject to the planning process. If you take the capital out of the market, the market finds other ways to provide it. We’re probably more sceptical about some of these self-build schemes which are put about by builders, who are really just trying to access the end users capital as working capital. Just taking out their market risk without changing what they’re doing Exactly. And maybe giving a bit more choice of finishes. Tell me about Plotsearch as a response to the land supply. Access to land in bitesize chunks is the challenge. People 84