One contractor has dominated Homes England’s spend on site preparation work, according to official figures.
The housing and regeneration quango spent more money with John Sisk & Son than any other contractor in the past two financial years, Construction News can reveal.
Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that the firm received the most direct cash in 2022/23 and 2023/24, making it six years in a row that Sisk has been the agency’s preferred contractor.
In 2023/24 the business received £38.3m, up from £22m the year before and totalling £60.3m over the two years.
Its work for the agency includes £100m-worth of infrastructure delivery at the York Central regeneration project.
The Homes England spending figures largely relate to civils, demolition and other preparatory works, and exclude the strategic partnership and joint-venture operations through which the body delivers most of its housing builds.
McLaughlin & Harvey received a total of £12.9m over the two years, making it the housing body’s second-biggest contractor.
Its jobs during the period included completing the £14m Cottingwood Infrastructure Access Road in Morpeth, Northumberland.
| Position | Supplier name (2023/24) | Amount |
| 1 | JOHN SISK & SON LTD | £38,348,739 |
| 2 | MCLAUGHLIN & HARVEY LTD | £10,462,070 |
| 3 | COGNITION LAND & WATER | £5,238,185 |
| 4 | HARLAXTON ENGINEERING SERVICES LTD | £3,395,803 |
| 5 | DSM DEMOLITION LTD | £3,106,954 |
| 6 | JACKSON CIVIL ENGINEERING GROUP LTD | £3,030,620 |
| 7 | VHE CONSTRUCTION PLC | £1,146,143 |
| 8 | GLEEDS ADVISORY LTD | £1,081,324 |
| 9 | CWC GROUP | £767,477 |
| 10 | FORKERS LTD | £755,808 |
| 11 | VISTRY PARTNERSHIPS LTD | £690,405 |
| 12 | GREENFISHER CONTRACTING LTD | £479,163 |
| 13 | KITCHEN CIVILS LTD | £340,198 |
| Total: | £68,842,889 |
Homes England’s overall spending with construction companies rose in each of the years, with its top contractors earning a combined £37.9m in 2022/23, and £68.8m in 2023/24.
Its spending had previously fallen to just £18.9m in 2021/22, having been £38.9m in 2020/21.
When CN revealed the drop in 2022, a Homes England spokesperson said that its spending was “not always linear” and that it remained committed to speeding up housing delivery.
Its annual report for 2021/22 showed it “unlocked housing capacity” for just 58,993 residential properties over the year, down from 170,276 in the prior 12 months.
This figure fell to just 12,200 in 2022/23, with the agency citing a reduced appetite for development finance from smaller developers as their confidence was hit by subcontractor failures, reduced margins, lower scheme viability, and declining sentiment and banking liquidity.
| Position | Supplier name (2022/23) | Amount |
| 1 | JOHN SISK & SON (HOLDINGS) LTD | £22,050,047 |
| 2 | DSM DEMOLITION LTD | £3,724,498 |
| 3 | JACKSON CIVIL ENGINEERING GROUP LTD | £3,234,958 |
| 4 | MCLAUGHLIN & HARVEY LTD | £2,403,319 |
| 5 | AE YATES LTD | £2,201,273 |
| 6 | GLEEDS ADVISORY LTD | £1,544,633 |
| 7 | FORKERS LTD | £1,235,997 |
| 8 | VHE CONSTRUCTION PLC | £514,813 |
| 9 | ASHCOURT DEMOLITION LTD | £454,227 |
| 10 | DUNELM GEOTECHNICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL LTD | £244,355 |
| 11 | RAINTON CONSTRUCTION LTD | £182,582 |
| 12 | J MURPHY AND SONS LTD | £132,567 |
| Total: | £37,923,269 |
Separately, Homes England has come in for criticism over its lending policies in the past year, including after the collapse of modular homebuilder Ilke Homes. It emerged in October 2023, that the agency would lose almost all of the £69m loan it made to the firm.
A year earlier, it was hit by the collapse of another modular construction firm, House by Urban Splash, into which it had pumped £30m and owned a 4 per cent stake. CN understands it was able to recover £27m of the money.
CN revealed in January that Homes England was owed £9.2m by Stewart Milne Homes when the company went under.
In April, Homes England chief executive Peter Denton said it was the agency’s job to take financial risks.
“We were completely aware of the risk levels we were taking on,” he told CN. “It’s not that we want to lose money, but it’s expected that we will lose money, because that’s our job: to take risks that the market won’t take.”
