A £24bn partnership has been agreed between the Crown Estate and Lendlease to develop housing and science and innovation districts across the UK.
The joint venture includes investment in Lendlease’s UK land and development portfolio, with the Crown Estate aiming to support both existing and future projects. The partners said the programme will deliver 26,000 homes, of which about one-third will be affordable, and up to 930,000 square metres of laboratory and workspace.
Sites named for development include areas around Euston station, Thamesmead Waterfront and Silvertown in London, and the Smithfield regeneration scheme in Birmingham.
The projects are expected to generate 100,000 jobs and contribute to the government’s industrial strategy, according to the Department for Business and Trade.
Lendlease group chief executive Tony Lombardo said the partnership would allow the companies to “unlock value” from the development pipeline and deliver “city-shaping precincts”.
Crown Estate chief executive Dan Labbad said the joint venture would help “spark investment in sectors like science, technology, and housing”, while also generating income for the Treasury.
The announcement follows the enactment of the Crown Estate Act 2025, which extended the organisation’s investment powers. It also comes as the government continues to promote its Plan for Change, which includes a target to build 1.5 million homes by 2029.
The scheme targets critical growth sectors such as life sciences and digital technology. Government officials cited an estimated £4bn increase in annual GVA and 67,000 extra jobs by 2035 if the life sciences real estate market in Cambridge, Oxford and London matches the scale of US peers.
The investment plans are also intended to help tackle a shortage of laboratory space, particularly in high-growth regional clusters. If delivered in full, the proposed workspaces would double current available lab space across the UK, addressing long-standing constraints on infrastructure that industry leaders say have slowed business expansion.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves and minister for investment Baroness Gustafsson of Chesterton CBE met with Lombardo and Labbad to support the launch.
The Crown Estate’s land portfolio, valued at £16bn, includes Regent Street, St James’s, Windsor Great Park and large holdings of rural land and seabed rights.
Sydney-headquartered Lendlease is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and operates in development, construction and investment. The architect teams for the development sites were not disclosed.
Source: Gov.uk