The winners will be working on schemes across Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Nottingham and Preston.

The appointed contractors are Anwyl Construction, Bardsley, Casey Construction, Galliford Try, Kier Living, Mears Living, Rowlinson Construction, Seddon, Termrim Construction, United Living, Wates and Willmott Partnership.

Ten employer’s agents have also been selected: AA Projects Ltd, Anderton Gables, Arcus Consulting, CPC Project Services, Identity Consult, Savills, Simon Fenton Partnership, Tozer Gallagher, WYG and Wilkinson Cowan Partnership.

JV North is investing £335.5m to build nearly 3,000 new homes under the Government’s Shared Ownership Affordable Homes Programme.

Around 2,000 of the homes – for rent and ownership – will be delivered through the new four-year framework that starts in July.

Sean Stafford, who is Director of Saffer Cooper which manages JV North’s development programme, said: “We received a large number of applications – in total 30 contractors and 89 consultants applied.

“We are delighted with the quality of the businesses selected for what will be a very busy period as we build thousands of much needed homes over the coming years.

“Housing association members are already well underway with their home building plans and will be calling off the framework immediately.”

The second stage of JV North’s framework – for work valued at under £1 million – will be launched in July.

This additional tier has been created to offer SME builders an improved opportunity to win work and build homes in communities local to them.