Prisoners Building Homes (PBH) is an award-winning, pioneering, cross-government programme that delivers high-quality, energy efficient, affordable homes built by people in prison or on probation.

PBH was the brainchild of the five Police and Crime Commissioners in the South West of England who, in 2021 were looking for a better way to reduce reoffending. Since then, the programme has expanded across the country with the support of our government partners, housebuilders and public and third sector landowners. 

PBH is governed by a national board with representation from our sponsors: the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Ministry of Justice, Police and Crime Commissioners; and our supporters – His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service, the Cabinet Office/ Local Government Association (LGA), One Public Estate Programme and Local Partnerships. PBH is hosted by Local Partnerships, an in-house public sector company jointly owned by the LGA, HM Treasury and the Welsh Government.

The scheme was set up to enable serving and post release prisoners to be employed and trained by housebuilders to build affordable homes for local communities and vulnerable people.  It provides an opportunity to reduce reoffending by ensuring serving and post release prisoners have the skills they need to help secure employment upon their release. 

In March 2021, the programme first delivered a proof-of-concept home on a Torbay Council owned site, funded by the Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.  This home was constructed by prisoners at a prison workshop at HMP Leyhill and assembled on site with the assistance of a probation client.  

Following the success of this pilot, the programme was awarded One Public Estate funding to deliver the programme across the South West. It then launched nationally in September 2024.

An experienced specialised programme manager works with the PBH accredited housebuilders providing an end-to-end development service, driving projects forward to deliver much needed affordable new homes at pace for the benefit of local communities, while providing meaningful and productive work and nationally accredited training to upskill serving prisoners enabling them to secure job opportunities post release. It also produces public sector cost and social value savings.  

Subsequent successful projects in Devon have included in Tiverton and Cullompton. As of summer 2025, PBH has matched 14 housebuilders with 11 prisons across the country, providing more than 100 prisoners with the opportunity to receive formal construction training qualifications and skills. This has resulted in 89 per cent of prisoners securing employment upon release – against a national average of 19 per cent, and a less than five per cent reoffending rate – against a national average of 27 per cent – preventing the ‘revolving door to prison’.   PBH has 100 plus sites for the delivery of 700 plus homes.

The programme won a prestigious national Government Property Award in 2023. In September 2025, the scheme received national recognition at the CN Specialist Awards, a celebration of the UKs best specialist contractors.

The ambition for 2026-29 is to expand the scheme to achieve the following aims:  

• Over 10,000 low carbon, affordable homes on more than 1,000 sites  

• Train over 3,000 prisoners to be qualified in construction   

• Enable over 20,000 people to live in warm, energy-efficient homes  

• Over 50 housebuilders accredited to PBH 

• Over 30 prisons accredited to PBH 

Find out more by watching the video below.