Mark Noble may have finished training for the day but he is back on the touchline when I catch up with him ahead of MIPIM UK. The crowd is smaller than he is used to, but in this match – and in countless others being played all over the country – there is plenty at stake. And for Noble, who is watching his son play, it begs a question: what role can football play in solving the country’s affordable housing crisis?
The link may not be immediately obvious. But for the West Ham United captain, it’s there. “There are 40 kids here having the time of their lives,” he explains. It’s enough to convince him that sport, played in the right environment, can help improve lives.
It was at MIPIM in March that Noble, with former Premier League players Bobby Zamora and Rio Ferdinand, laid out a vision for sport-led regeneration. It was no wide-eyed fantasy. Guided by Colliers International director Richard Walsh, the players’ Legacy Foundation was launched with an oven-ready project.
Partnering with Central Bedfordshire Council, Aviva Investors and McLaren, Legacy is fast-tracking a sport-led, mixed-use development in Houghton Regis, one of the most deprived areas of the UK. The local authority is supplying a 54-acre site in an area where 41% of children grow up in low-income households and unemployment is double the national level, as is the proportion of single parents.
Aviva is funding a scheme that will create as many as 1,400 new homes – a mix of affordable, social rented and privately owned – as well as a sports academy. Focusing on family housing, the scheme will see construction start on site in the first quarter of 2017 with phase one due for delivery two years later.
And the footballers are not merely front men. Each is contributing cash and has continued to drive the Houghton Regis project since its inception. They are also lobbying other local authorities to adapt the model elsewhere.
“The main thing is to get one project off the ground,” says Noble. “Then I’m sure more people will get involved and work with Legacy to create great communities.”
Conversations are advancing with Barking and Dagenham – Zamora was born in the borough – and Noble describes the efforts of leader Darren Rodwell to regenerate the borough as “really great”. He’s similarly positive about Kim Bromley-Derry, the chief executive of Newham, the borough where Noble himself was born. Like Ferdinand, who was born in Southwark, Zamora and Noble grew up on council estates and each is determined to deliver a high-quality, affordable, healthy environment where communities can thrive.
Doing so in the places where they grew up would be a bonus.
As well as sites and funding for housing, the Legacy team has also been looking at innovative ways of building schools, hospitals and surgeries. And they have picked up new allies along the way too. Having established a rapport with then housing minister Brandon Lewis, they had to start again with his replacement, Gavin Barwell. But the change has not slowed progress or commitment on either side. “We’ve met Gavin and we get on really well,” says Noble. It’s not just politicians either: emerging London artist Robi Walters has offered to create a piece of art for every Legacy site.
Noble insists he finds the prospect of another MIPIM exciting. And he is relishing finding further sites and delivering sorely needed affordable and accessible housing. MIPIM UK might be too soon for further announcements, but expect progress before MIPIM itself in March.
So could it be a full-time job when he eventually hangs up his boots? Perhaps, by the sounds of it.
“Football has given me everything I’ve got, and you don’t get any younger,” says the 29 year old. “I love what I do. But sometimes you can get caught up in it. Legacy gives me a release from football and it’s something that re-ignites my brain.”
