After years of being ignored, housing associations have been embraced by a Government desperate to build more homes and help people onto the housing ladder.

They were responsible for erecting 30,680 homes last year, and manage 2.7m across the UK. A report by Savills in 2016 found that provided there is some kind of subsidy, housing associations have the capacity to double the number of homes they build, delivering up to a total of 84,000 a year by 2029.

One of the housing association London & Quadrant’s current projects is Barking Riverside, which will eventually provide a new village the size of Windsor in east London, with 11,000 homes, a new train station and five schools.

It has a 50pc stake in the site, bought from the house builder Bellway, which was producing just 150 homes a year. L&Q will build its half four times more quickly than would otherwise have been possible, thanks to the greater variety of homes it builds.