AMION Consulting has been appointed by Homes England to undertake a major research commission examining how the additionality of place-based housing and regeneration interventions can be assessed more robustly.
The research will support the delivery and evaluation of the National Housing Delivery Fund, which brings together grants, financial transactions and guarantees to increase housing supply and support long-term reform of the housing market.
The commission will focus particularly on strengthening the assessment of deadweight and displacement at scheme level. It will examine how many homes and wider outcomes can reasonably be considered genuinely additional, rather than activity that would have occurred without public intervention or has been displaced from elsewhere.
AMION’s approach will combine quantitative and spatial analysis with detailed consideration of individual schemes, local housing markets and the different ways in which public interventions affect development. It will also examine how additionality varies between different types of scheme, funding product and place.
The commission will be led by AMION Chief Executive Graham Russell, supported by a multidisciplinary team of economists, housing specialists and spatial analysts. Professor Peter Tyler of the University of Cambridge will provide independent academic assurance throughout the work, challenging the methodology, interpretation and robustness of the findings.
Graham Russell said:
“This is a nationally important commission addressing one of the most persistent challenges in housing and regeneration evaluation. Additionality cannot be understood properly through standard assumptions alone. It requires evidence of what has happened in practice, a credible counterfactual and careful consideration of housing market and spatial context.
“For me, the appointment also brings things full circle, having helped to write the original additionality guidance nearly 30 years ago. We now have an opportunity to build on that foundation, using better data and analytical techniques to strengthen how additionality is understood and evidenced.”
The appointment builds on AMION’s long-standing relationship with Homes England. The company has been a member of the Agency’s Strategic Research, Economics and Evaluation framework and its predecessors since 2000, delivering research, appraisal and evaluation assignments across housing, regeneration and place-based investment. The research is expected to conclude in summer 2027.
For further information, please contact Graham Russell at grahamrussell@amion.co.uk