In partnership with
As demand for affordable homes continues to grow across the country, Esh Construction is strengthening its position as a trusted delivery partner for registered housing providers. Preconstruction director Chris Hale explains why early involvement, land-led solutions and long-term collaboration are becoming increasingly important in a changing market
There are few sectors that carry the same social and economic significance as affordable housing.
As demand continues to outpace supply, registered providers face mounting pressures around land availability, planning, viability and delivery. Against that backdrop, the construction sector has a critical role to play in helping housing associations bring forward the homes communities need.
Chris explains the challenge is clear. ‘There is a severe lack of housing across the UK and significant investment continues to come into the sector through Homes England and regional growth initiatives,’ he says. ‘The North East and Yorkshire need that investment, but increasing housing delivery isn’t as straightforward as simply building more homes.’
While the Government has placed housing delivery firmly on the national agenda, Chris believes the industry’s ability to respond will depend on more than funding alone.
‘The North East is a relatively small region with finite resources,’ he explains. ‘If housing delivery increases significantly, there will inevitably be pressure on skills across the sector.
‘That isn’t just trades such as joiners, plumbers and electricians, it’s project managers, commercial teams, site managers and all the supporting roles required to deliver construction programmes successfully.’
It is one of the reasons why Esh prioritises sustainable growth, balancing ambition with the capacity to deliver.
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Across the North East and Yorkshire, the business is currently delivering around £100m of new affordable housing work annually. That level of activity has increased significantly in recent years through projects delivered in partnership with housing providers, including Karbon Homes, Thirteen Group, Home Group, and Broadacres.
For Chris, maintaining that level of delivery while protecting quality, safety and client service is more important than chasing rapid expansion.
‘We’ve invested in our people, developed our supply chain and built a strong platform over a number of years,’ he says.
‘The challenge is maintaining those standards as the market evolves. We don’t want to overstretch the business because that’s when quality and delivery can suffer. Controlled growth has been fundamental to our success and will remain so.’
That measured approach is reflected across Esh’s affordable housing portfolio. One of the most significant examples is Seaham Garden Village, where Esh’s relationship with Karbon Homes has developed into a long-term partnership which will support the delivery of 750 homes in the coming years.
Esh Group's Preconstruction director Chris Hale (Image: Graham Brown)
The development, County Durham’s first garden village, has become a cornerstone project for Esh in the North East, demonstrating the benefits that can be achieved when housing providers and contractors work collaboratively over the long term rather than through traditional transactional relationships.
Alongside the 750 homes that are being created in Seaham, 200 of which are already under development, Esh is delivering 104 affordable homes for Karbon in Pelton on the site of the former Roseberry Sports Community College. A further 63 homes, 20 of which will serve as care-ready supported housing apartments, are under construction on the former Bellingham Auction Mart site in Northumberland.
In Middlesbrough, Esh has also delivered three major regeneration schemes with Thirteen Group at Hillside Gardens, Union Village and Kedward Avenue, collectively creating more than 500 new homes and helping to reshape communities that had been awaiting redevelopment for years.
For Chris, who grew up in the area, those projects hold particular significance.
‘Working on major regeneration schemes in your hometown is always something special,’ he says. ‘But the real achievement is seeing new communities being created where old housing had been demolished years before.’
The impact of affordable housing extends far beyond the buildings themselves. At Grove Hill, Esh has helped deliver modern, energy-efficient homes that not only meet housing demand but also support wider community regeneration.
‘These developments are about creating places where people want to live,’ says Chris.
‘There can still be an outdated perception of affordable housing, but when you visit these schemes the quality is exceptional. The homes are larger, more energy efficient and designed around the needs of residents.
‘In many cases, you wouldn’t know whether you’re standing in front of an affordable home or an open market property.’
That commitment to quality and placemaking has been recognised through a growing number of industry awards. Earlier this year, Union Village in Gresham, delivered in partnership with Thirteen Group, was named Regeneration Project of the Year at the Northern Housing Awards after transforming a long-derelict brownfield site into a thriving neighbourhood of 145 affordable homes.
The development later secured a second accolade when it was crowned Residential Project of the Year at the Constructing Excellence North East Awards, recognising both the quality of the homes delivered and the wider community impact of the scheme.
Across Esh’s affordable housing portfolio, such recognition reflects the business’s focus on creating sustainable communities rather than simply delivering housing numbers.
Delivering those outcomes, however, is becoming increasingly complex. One of the biggest challenges facing registered housing providers is viability. Chris points to the emerging Homes England funding programme and the increasing emphasis on social rent provision. While welcomed from a housing perspective, it creates additional financial challenges for organisations delivering new homes.
‘Social rent is incredibly important, but it can make schemes more difficult to fund and deliver,’ he explains. ‘That means understanding costs, risks and site constraints much earlier in the process so that projects can be properly assessed before significant time and money is committed.’
This is where Esh’s preconstruction capability thrives.
Esh Group's Preconstruction director Chris Hale (Image: Graham Brown)
Having spent 24 years with the business, including the last six as preconstruction director, Chris has seen first-hand how the role of preconstruction has evolved from a supporting function into a critical stage of project development.
Today’s preconstruction team brings together expertise in commercial management, estimating, planning, design, legal matters, technical delivery and construction management, providing clients with a comprehensive view of the opportunities and risks associated with a project before work begins on site.
‘We see preconstruction as one of our biggest strengths,’ says Chris. ‘The better a project is set up at the start, the greater the chance of success during delivery.
‘There’s a phrase we often use internally: good jobs get better and bad jobs get worse. That’s why it’s so important to fully understand a scheme before construction starts.’
He explains that the approach carries extra weight on regeneration projects, where hidden challenges can quickly affect programme and budget. Ground conditions, existing infrastructure, utility diversions, demolition requirements and planning constraints can all have a significant impact on delivery if they are not identified and addressed early.
‘We always start with understanding the constraints,’ Chris explains. ‘Only then do we look at how many homes can realistically be delivered. Sometimes a site might look suitable for a certain number of properties, but once you fully understand the challenges involved, the picture changes completely.’
Being willing to have those conversations early has helped Esh develop long-standing relationships with clients throughout the region. Chris cites the company’s work with Thirteen Group as a good example of what true partnership working looks like in practice.
During a period of unprecedented inflation following the Covid-19 pandemic, material costs increased rapidly across the construction industry, creating uncertainty for long-term housing developments. Rather than holding schemes up until project viability could be secured following the pandemic, Esh and Thirteen worked together to find practical solutions that protected both parties and enabled projects to proceed.
‘We sat down together and discussed how we could manage the inflation risk collectively,’ Chris says. ‘It wasn’t about one side pushing risk onto the other. It was about finding a solution that worked for everyone.
‘That level of openness only comes through trust, and trust is built over time by delivering what you say you’re going to deliver.’
Trust also sits at the heart of Esh’s increasingly successful land-led development model – an approach which sees the business take the strain of land purchase, viability, funding and planning applications off housing providers with a personal and collaborative outlook.
Through the land-led solution Esh identifies development opportunities, undertakes the necessary investigations and planning work, and works alongside registered providers throughout the process before delivering the final construction programme.
Chris describes it as acting as an extension of a housing provider’s development team.
Esh Group's Preconstruction director Chris Hale (Image: Graham Brown)
‘We see ourselves as a bolt-on development function,’ he says. ‘Housing associations have their own priorities and development targets, but we can bring additional expertise and resource to help unlock opportunities.
‘We’ll identify sites, undertake due diligence, work through the planning process and assess viability, allowing our partners to focus on their core objectives.’
Importantly, the model is built around shared commitment and shared risk.
Both parties invest in the development process, creating a genuine partnership from the earliest stages of a project.
‘We’re not simply spending our client’s money,’ Chris says. ‘We’re investing ourselves because we’re committed to delivering the scheme. If a project succeeds, both parties benefit from that success.’
The model has become increasingly valuable at a time when land availability remains one of the biggest obstacles to housing delivery.
With planning periods often exceeding statutory timescales and development costs continuing to face pressure, Chris believes early engagement is more important than ever.
‘Getting involved at the earliest possible stage allows us to test assumptions, understand risks and improve certainty,’ he says.
‘Ultimately, it gives clients greater confidence that a site can be delivered successfully.’
Certainty has become a recurring theme throughout the affordable housing sector.
Housing providers need confidence not only in construction costs but also in programme delivery, buildability and handover arrangements.
For larger developments involving hundreds of homes, planning how and when completed properties are transferred to residents can be almost as important as building them.
‘Programme certainty is critical,” says Chris. ‘Clients need to know when homes will be available so they can plan occupancy, manage funding requirements and support future residents. The earlier those conversations happen, the better outcomes everybody achieves.’
Esh Construction is also exploring opportunities to further standardise its new build offer through the development of a suite of pre-designed house types. The approach would provide housing providers with proven, repeatable designs that can be adapted across multiple sites, improving buildability, reducing design lead-in times and creating greater certainty around cost and programme.
At a time when the sector continues to face cost pressures, standardisation has the potential to drive greater efficiencies, reduce risk and help clients maximise the value of their investment without compromising on quality. Combined with early contractor involvement, this approach could support faster, more predictable delivery, with the first schemes tailored this way expected to enter construction towards the end of this year.
Another area where Esh believes it offers a competitive advantage is through its integrated delivery capability.
The group’s civil engineering businesses, including Lumsden & Carroll and Esh Construction’s civil engineering division, provide specialist expertise that can be incorporated directly into housing projects.
On current affordable housing schemes at Amberley & Harrogate for Thirteen Group in Sunderland, and Karbon’s Roseberry development, Lumsden & Carroll has provided plotworks and roads infrastructure expertise ahead of the main build phase.
Chris describes this model as a ‘single-source delivery approach’, creating greater control over programme, quality and problem-solving.
‘There aren’t many businesses operating in affordable housing that can offer that level of in-house capability,’ he says.
‘It gives us greater flexibility and allows us to respond quickly when challenges arise, which has provided major benefits on schemes to date – including our Grove Hill scheme in Middlesbrough, which was completed two years ahead of the outlined programme.’
Alongside those internal capabilities, Esh continues to invest in long-term supply chain relationships, working with trusted subcontractors who understand the company’s expectations around quality, safety and delivery.
That consistency has become increasingly important as clients seek confidence in the resilience and stability of their delivery partners.
For Chris, Esh’s financial strength, strong balance sheet and reputation for paying suppliers promptly have all contributed to the company’s continued success.
In its latest accounts for 2025, Esh Group reported an increase in profit and liquidity, with pre-tax profits rising to £15 million, up from £5 million in the previous year, with a 4.8% pre-tax margin. Turnover grew by 17% to £311 million.
‘Clients want reassurance that their contractor will be there for the entirety of a project,’ he says. ‘Financial stability matters, particularly on long-term regeneration and housing schemes.
‘It’s also important for the supply chain. Strong relationships are built on trust and reliability, and that benefits everyone involved in delivering the homes.’
Looking ahead, Chris remains positive about the future of affordable housing despite the challenges facing the sector.
The introduction of longer-term funding programmes through Homes England is providing greater certainty than previous funding cycles, allowing housing providers and contractors to plan with more confidence.
Meanwhile, Esh’s pipeline remains strong, with schemes progressing through development, planning and construction stages.
Yet despite the opportunities ahead, Chris is clear that continued success will depend on maintaining the qualities that have underpinned the business’s growth to date.
‘We can’t become complacent,’ he says. ‘We have to continue delivering safely, maintain quality, remain competitive and keep supporting our clients in the right way.’
Chris is motivated for the future by the relationships that underpin successful housing delivery.
Whether working with registered providers, consultants, local authorities or Esh’s own teams, he believes collaboration remains the foundation of every successful scheme.
To find out more about Esh Construction, visit eshgroup.co.uk
‘We want to be the first call our clients make,’ he says. ‘That comes from being open and honest and delivering what we say we’re going to deliver.
‘If we can continue doing that while maintaining quality, safety and value for our partners, then we’re in a strong position for the future.’
In a region facing significant housing demand, the challenge is not simply building more homes. It is creating sustainable communities, unlocking opportunities and delivering certainty in an increasingly complex market.
For Esh Construction, the answer lies in the partnerships that make that possible.