Moving forward with purpose: Our view of 2026

If 2025 was about setting strong foundations, 2026 is about visible delivery. Across Yorkshire and the North East, that momentum is building. After several years of collaborative planning, consultation and early‑stage agreements, many of our projects are now moving firmly into delivery. This shift, from preparing to doing, is what excites me most about the year ahead.

Creating new communities across Yorkshire & the North East

In Bradford, City Village is moving from planning into delivery. The first phase is progressing, with demolition activity at the Oastler & Kirkgate shopping centres set to begin this spring, marking an important moment for the city centre. City Village will ultimately bring up to 1,000 new homes alongside new public green spaces and local amenities, helping redefine the ‘top of town’ area of the city centre as a place where people want to live, spend time and connect. 2026 will turn our concepts into construction and give Bradford residents their first real glimpse of the change that is underway in the city.

Over in Hull, the East Bank development continues to gather pace. Following strong community support through consultation, partners are refining plans ahead of a planning submission early this year. The scheme will introduce around 850 new homes in the city centre, complemented by ground-floor commercial uses such as cafe, retail or workspace units designed to support everyday local activity. New public realm, which includes reinstating the river walkway, and almost £10m of Levelling Up Partnership funding will help reconnect a long-underused riverside area back into the heart of the city, creating a modern neighbourhood that builds on Hull’s momentum in recent years.

At Durham’s Aykley Heads, our partnership with the County Council and Durham University is laying the groundwork for a new Innovation District of not just regional but national significance. With outline consent already in place for major employment space, our focus this year is on phase‑one masterplanning and supporting the processes needed to prepare the County Hall site for redevelopment. This is a fantastic opportunity to create jobs, attract businesses and shape a high-quality environment rooted in research, technology and collaboration. It’s the kind of project where early partnership between public and private partners makes all the difference and sets the stage for something genuinely transformative.

In Wakefield, the Development Agreement formalising our new Strategic Regeneration Partnership with the Council is now in place, meaning we can move forward together with our first priority – The Cathedral Quarter. This will deliver a vibrant new area for leisure, living, and events in the city centre. Wakefield has a clear vision for how it should evolve, and our role is to help turn that vision into a reality via a deliverable programme that brings significant benefits quickly and at scale.

In Gateshead, we’ve recently taken an important step forward at the Baltic Quarter, where a new Pre‑Development Agreement is now in place with the Council through ECF. The partnership will explore how this key area can be brought forward to deliver a new mixed‑use neighbourhood, with new homes, workspace and public spaces that build on the Baltic Quarter’s existing strengths as a place for culture, learning and enterprise located close to the iconic quayside. It’s an exciting opportunity to support the council’s wider regeneration ambitions and shape a long‑term vision for one of the most distinctive parts of the borough.

Alongside this, we’re continuing to work with partners across the wider North East to progress future opportunities. With several regional and national funding programmes due to be confirmed in the spring, 2026 is an important year for getting projects ready so they can move quickly once that support becomes available.

A year shaped by partnership

Across all these places, one theme stands out: public–private partnership is the engine of delivery.

Local authorities bring ambition, local knowledge and stewardship. Institutions like Homes England provide vital funding routes and policy alignment. Private partners bring delivery experience, long-term investment, and the ability to navigate complexity.

Partnerships like ECF, our collaboration with L&G and Homes England, show how powerful that can be. In Bradford, Hull & Gateshead, ECF is de‑risking multi-phase regeneration and providing the stability needed to take forward large, complex projects in city centres that have historically faced barriers to investment.

This year, the partnership lens becomes even more important. Homes England’s updated investment roadmap and the transition toward the next Social and Affordable Homes Programme provide a clearer view of the tools available, whether for housing-led regeneration, enabling infrastructure or mixed‑use schemes. Against this backdrop, Habiko – our joint venture with L&G and Homes England to deliver sustainable, affordable homes – presents a timely opportunity to make real strides across the Yorkshire region, with objectives closely aligned to the government’s affordable housing agenda. As always, the schemes that move fastest will be the ones where partners are aligned early, transparent about challenges, and ready to adapt as funding becomes clearer.

Repurposing our city centres

Another defining theme for 2026 is the ongoing shift in how we use city centres. The evolution of retail isn’t new, but the opportunity it creates is clearer than ever.

Places like Bradford & Wakefield illustrate this perfectly. Large areas of legacy retail are now being reimagined as new residential neighbourhoods supported by community uses, vibrant streets and public realm. Delivered well, these mixed-use communities bring people back into the heart of cities, boosting footfall, strengthening local businesses, and making centres feel safe, active and community‑focused at all times of the day.

For smaller regional cities and towns, this approach gives them a head start. By introducing quality homes early, especially family-friendly options and apartments close to services, they can support commuter demand and create the conditions for long-term economic resilience.

Ultimately for 2026, the message is simply to deliver. We enter the year with strong relationships and growing momentum across all our projects and, with the right collaboration, the next twelve months will bring visible progress. Progress on sites, on streets, and in the confidence of the communities we serve.