Enfield Council has let the contract for 37 affordable homes on the Exeter Road estate, EN3. Work must start by 30 September to keep its GLA grant.
Enfield Council has approved the building contract for the first phase of the Exeter Road estate rebuild in Enfield Highway. It will deliver 37 new homes, all of them affordable.
The decision was signed today, 25 September, by Joanne Drew, the council’s Executive Director of Housing and Regeneration. It is published as key decision KD 5980, with a public report that explains why the scheme has shrunk.
The report does not name the winning builder or the price. Both sit in a confidential Part 2, withheld because they concern a company’s financial affairs.
Why it is nine homes smaller
The first phase was meant to deliver 46 affordable homes. In 2021 the council signed a pre-construction deal with the builder Mullaley & Co to design it. When Mullaley priced the job, the cost came in above what the council could make work.
The report gives three reasons:
- building costs rose 20% in 2022 and 15% in 2023, after a 46% jump in materials costs between 2020 and 2022
- sale prices stagnated, so the homes meant for sale “would cost more to build, than they could be sold”
- new building safety rules from 2023 require two staircases in buildings over 18 metres, roughly six storeys
Officers redesigned the scheme instead of abandoning it.
What changed
The redesigned first phase, as set out in the report:
| 2021 consent | Now | |
|---|---|---|
| Homes | 46 | 37 |
| One-bed share | 50% | 16% (6 homes) |
| Two-bed share | 15% | 54% (20 homes) |
| Three-bed homes | not stated | 11 |
| Maisonettes | 4 | 10 |
| Block B height | 7 storeys | 6 storeys |
Block A also gains setbacks on its upper floors. Cutting the height means the scheme no longer has to go through the new Building Safety Act approval process. One in ten homes will be wheelchair accessible.
The homes are currently planned as 28 for social rent and 9 for shared ownership. The council wants all 37 at social rent. The Greater London Authority’s investment panel approved that switch for grant purposes on 26 August, and the council is now seeking the planning change to match.
The parking and the podium
One promised improvement has gone. The consented rebuild of the podium car park between Honiton House and Newton House has been removed from Phase 1 “due to viability constraints”.
The report says the new phase will have enough parking of its own, including wheelchair bays, and “will not impact parking for current residents”.
How the builder was chosen
The contract was run through the Notting Hill Genesis framework for development contractors:
- eight builders said they were interested at the early market test
- three returned an expression of interest, issued on 29 October 2025
- all three passed the council’s financial checks and were invited to tender on 18 December 2025
- one withdrew, and two bids came back in March 2026
The scoring was close. The builder with the lower price scored 90.85%. The other scored 90.15%, having done better on quality. After best and final offers in early August, the cheaper bid was still the lowest.
The report’s own tender section dates the returned bids to March 2025. Its milestone table and procurement section both say March 2026, which fits the December 2025 invitation.
The 30 September deadline
This decision was up against the clock. The report’s milestone table sets 30 September 2026 as the date for the main works to start on site. It is also the council’s deadline to draw down GLA grant.
Re-tendering was rejected for that reason. The report says it would have missed the GLA’s start date “putting the grant funding at risk”. The size of the grant is also in the confidential section.
The site is not untouched. The council’s own team made a formal start in December 2024, clearing the site and building a new road entrance, which kept the 2021 planning permission alive. The revised scheme was approved on 17 March 2026 with no objections or representations.
The 2021 hybrid permission, reference 21/02076/OUT, covers up to 129 homes across three phases. This decision is about Phase 1 only. The public report gives no completion date for the new homes.
What it means for you
- Estate residents: construction starts imminently. The report promises a construction management plan, advance notice of works and safe pedestrian routes. It also delegates power to make stopping up or diversion orders for paths and roads, which must go through consultation first.
- People on the housing register: these are family-sized council homes, 11 of them with three bedrooms. If the tenure switch goes through, all 37 will be let at social rent.
- Anyone wanting the builder’s name: the council must publish the awarded contract on Contracts Finder, the government’s transparency register.
We track the borough’s larger housing schemes on our planning news page, including the Alma Estate’s next phase in Ponders End.
Sources: Enfield Council decision KD 5980, published 25 September 2026; KD 5980 public report (Part 1, redacted).
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