Why Are Red Loft and RenKap Working Together?

Councils bidding into the Council Housebuilding Support Fund (CHSF) have until 2pm on 2 November 2026, and the strongest bids will include sites which are the most likely to be deliverable. Red Loft. a land and development consultancy, now uses the RenKc1p platform to de-risk council housing sites c1l speed. Using this combined offering councils can put their grant and officer time into the sites most likely to pass viability and planning.

What Does the Homes England £21.8m Fund Offer Councils?

The fund gives each council up to £300,000 of revenue funding to bring housing sites forward for a Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP) bid. Bids close at 2pm on 2 November 2026 (gov.uk).

In practice, councils can use it to pay for:

Development and project management expertise
Financial viability and business case modelling
Procurement of technical consultant teams
Design development and technical surveys
Planning progression and governcince approvals
Additional capacity to bring schemes forward at pace

Homes England expects the fund to help around 75 councils submit capital bids into the SAHP. For the wider context, read our guide to the Council Housebuilding Support Fund.

Why Is Site Assessment the key step to Unlock SAHP Funding?

Every site in a SAHP bid needs to demonstrate that it is highly likely to lead to real homes being delivered Identifying the right site, de-risking it thoroughly through site surveys and understanding what can realistically be built on each site is essential to boost the likelihood of successful funding. Red Loft & RenKap can support this.

What does the Red Loft and RenKap Partnership mean for Councils?

As Red Loft is now a RenKap client, councils working with Red Loft get their expertise leading the strategy and access to the RenKap platform for streamlining all the technical due diligence on each site.

On site surveys - A single development site can need up to 15 different technical surveys, including topographical. ecology, utilities, flood risk, trees and ground investigation. Each needs to be tendered compliantly, chased and reviewed separately. Missed surveys, or surveys done at the wrong time, cause redesigns and expensive abortive costs.

For a council. an undeliverable site is the single biggest risk to a credible SAHP bid. The officer time, consultancy work and survey fees spent on that site are lost on abortive costs

Red Loft leads the consultancy work: development management, viability, delivery strategies, SAHP bid support and mentoring council teams. RenKap provides the PropTech efficiencies. The RenKap platform turns 8 weeks of survey procurement into 30 minutes and manages site visits, health and safety documents and reporting in one place. It produces a digital Risk Register for each site that shows which sites to advance and which to stop early.

Gonzalo Marquesini FRICS

Founder of RenKap

"Councils are being asked to help deliver homes at scale but over the years their resources and funding have been stripped. Together with Red Loft we are demonstrating how by combining consultancy expertise with proven tech, councils can unlock their housing pipeline faster and more efficiently than ever before."

Neil Jervis

Partner at Red Loft

"We are excited to be partnering with RenKap to offer Councils a comprehensive service in support of their Capacity to Build, CHSF bids. As Lead Development Consultant, Red Loft combines strategic development expertise with RenKap's innovative digital platform to help authorities rapidly assess, prioritise and de-risk housing delivery opportunities. This provides Councils with a robust evidence base on key development risks, enabling more informed decision-making and strengthening future SAHP funding bids."

How Does the process work, from Site Identification to CHSF Bid?

The process runs in six steps·

Site identification. Either the council will provide a list of sites or Red Loft can help identify the most suitable sites.
Targeted brief (Red Loft). Red Loft gives an early steer on each site and on the bid as a whole.
Surveys (RenKap). We agree on the first batch of surveys, RenKap then tenders each survey to their vetted surveyors, returns three like-for-like quotes and manages all the work in one platform
Viability {Red Loft). Red Loft prepares viability, business case and delivery strategy on the sites the survey data supports. Sites that fail are stopped before architects and design teams are appointed.
Bid review (Red Loft). The Red Loft team reviews the shortlist of sites in order to give the final steer to the council before they formalise their bid
Submission (council). The council submits a bid backed by the initial site appraisal data.

Has this approach been trusted with Councils?

Yes. The Small Site Accelerator, RenKap's pilot under the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and Geovation's PropTech Round 5, ran 6 sites each with Lewisham, Lambeth, Bristol and Wigan councils. The outcome - Each site saved 3.3 months of pre-planning, £12k on the survey workflow, and 90% of in-house resource saving.

How can Councils get started before the 2nd November Deadline?

Email Gonzalo Marquesini, Founder of RenKap, at info@renkap.com or Neil Jervis, Partner at Red Loft, at njervis@redloft.co.uk to discuss your council's CHSF site pipeline.