It takes a village: a new chapter for Mill Hill

We’re pleased to share that at the start of the summer, Barnet Council granted planning permission for our flagship Bunns Lane project in Mill Hill - to be delivered in partnership with Aviva Capital Partners and the London Borough of Barnet.

Ambition with Purpose

The vision for Bunns Lane goes far beyond simply building homes. This development will bring 130 high-quality Build to Rent apartments to Mill Hill, with 50% of them designated as affordable housing - all delivered on council-owned land right beside Mill Hill Broadway station.

Through an innovative lease-and-leaseback partnership with Barnet Council, we’re bringing together Stories’ purpose-led development expertise with Aviva Capital Partners' institutional funds to create long-term public value.  The homes will be owned and managed by Barnet Council – ensuring they remain a community asset for generations.  This is Stories' first collaboration with Aviva Capital Partners under this model and stands as proof that development can be done differently: transparently, stewardship-driven, and community focused.

Designing for Sustainability and Social Value

Sustainability and community sit at the heart of Bunns Lane.

• Designed to Passivhaus principles, the development includes solar PV, exhaust air heat pumps, and waste‑water heat recovery - cutting operational carbon emissions by around 80% while keeping running costs low for residents.

• Beyond the homes themselves, the development will deliver a 10% biodiversity net gain, introduces 39 new trees including along Bunns Lane and improves the public realm around the station.

• The 130 apartments which are a mix of 81 one-bed, 40 two-bed, and 9 three-bed homes are set within buildings of 4–6 storeys.

• By reorganising the existing car park into a more efficient, landscape-led layout, the scheme reduces car reliance making use of the proximity to the station and makes the neighbourhood more walkable and welcoming.

Purposeful partnerships

What makes this project distinct is the commercial structure behind it. This is not a conventional land sale or development agreement. Under this model, Barnet Council will grant a headlease to Stories & Aviva to undertake the development and who, on completion, will grant back a 50-year underlease to the Council. This approach allows the Council to retain long-term ownership of the land while enabling the joint venture to fund and deliver the homes.

Under this arrangement, Stories & Aviva take full responsibility for securing planning, funding construction, and delivering the homes – carrying all of the risks around design, viability, market conditions, procurement and build. The Council is protected from these risks while retaining a long-term ownership of the asset.

Once complete, Barnet Council will take the homes back in full but paying a lease to Aviva for the first 50 years, keeping all of the net rental income. This enables the Council to manage the homes directly - including the affordable homes, which will be let at genuinely affordable rents for local people. This model enables the Council to deliver high-quality, sustainable housing on its own land, without needing to borrow or invest capital upfront.

Acknowledgments

We want to acknowledge the collaborative efforts that made this possible. It truly does take a village:

• Barnet Council, in particular Cllr Ross Houston and Abid Arai and colleagues in regeneration and planning, for their leadership and for embracing this delivery model.

• Aviva Capital Partners, led by Sophie White and Philippa Iley, for their belief that institutional capital can serve long-term public good when partnered with mission-led delivery.

• The full professional team — Metropolitan Workshop, Quod, Cast, XCO₂, Whitby Wood, Avison Young, Pell Frischmann, Spacehub, OFR, Say, Kanda Consulting and others — for their rigour, creativity, and persistence.

And of course, the team at Stories for holding the thread, challenging assumptions, and always returning to the question: what will deliver the most value to people and place, long into the future?

Looking ahead

The next step is getting this built and we are out to tender for a contractor. We hope to be starting on site in March 2026.

At Bunns Lane, we’ve shown what’s possible when ambition is matched by partnership. We look forward to sharing progress as this project comes to life - and to working with like-minded partners to scale this approach to other sites across the UK.