An 8-plot custom build site with outline planning permission in Caistor, Lincolnshire, brought on by Potton. At just over a hectare, the brownfield site was previously a haulage yard, with buildings to be demolished to make way for the three- and four-bedroom properties. Plot prices start from £150,000.
Trumpet Junction has been renamed Squirrel Wood, bringing on 2-, 3-, 4- and 5-bedroom custom build homes on serviced plots.
ZeroC has been appointed as developer for Trumpet Junction, Park Prewett, which will include 44 affordable homes, including 2-, 3- and 4-bedroom custom and self build homes.
As part of the redevelopment of the Park Prewett hospital site, an HCA site on the outskirts of Basingstoke, 1,250 new and affordable homes are to be created, including 120 proposed custom build plots as part of the Government’s pilot custom build site.
Six self build homes on land brought forward by Stoke-On-Trent City Council as serviced plots for executive style homes. The local authority sold the plots by auction – with five out of six plots going for considerably more than their estimate. The council created a new access way with fully-serviced plots, and the purchasers were then free to commission their own home, according to their preferences but within the framework set by the outline planning permission.
All plots are now reserved at French Fields, with building work on the first phase already at shell.
A collaboration between Potton, BuildStore and Mark Ward, the custom build development French Fields has sold over 50% of the homes on its stand-alone rural site between the Cheshire villages of Burtonwood and Clockface. The 4,000m² site has guaranteed planning permission for 18 four- or five-bedroom homes, with utilities, drainage, access, pavements and surround landscaping all included as part of the custom build package.
Specialist home builder Potton is working in partnership with land owner Mark Ward and mortgage provider BuildStore to create affordable homes that are directly comparable with mass market building. The expectation is that a typical four-bedroom house could be completed for just £285,000 in total (on the basis of £135,000 for the plot and £150,000 in construction costs).
Community land trust Rural Urban Synthesis Society (RUSS) has successfully bid for the Church Grove site, a community self and custom build site of 30 homes. Applications for self-builders to join the community custom build group are now open – see Apply For A Home.
Status at March 2015
Potential for 30 new self or custom build homes on the site of a former school in Ladywell, being put forward by Lewisham Council. The Council is looking for a community-led partner organisation to work with residents who want to build their own home, which is currently undergoing enabling developer procurement, due to close at the end of 2015. Council officers have been working with self-build facilitators, Our London, to understand the views of interested residents, understand technical site constraints, and devise a selection process for community-led self-build enablers.
For more visist [http://www.churchgrove.info/index.html] or Lewisham Council at [www.lewisham.gov.uk]
Potton is bringing on a 34-plot custom build site, with an average plot value of £131,250, in Holywell Lane, Ligthmoor, Telford, a brownfield site.
Plot, the custom build branch of Bloc, is bringing on a semi-rural site in Murton County Durham for 10 custom build homes. The four- to five-bedroom detached homes vary between 1,500-1,800ft², and planning has been granted for a range of external designs that customers can choose from.
Fishponds Cohousing is now complete, with all residents moved in.
Resident are working as a group to install kitchens, bathrooms, decorating, fitting skirting and architraves, flooring, tiling and works to the communal garden to earn ‘sweat equity’. Planning approval was granted in 2013 and the project moved on site earlier this year, with an anticipated construction schedule of 52 weeks.
Bristol CLT’s Fishponds cohousing project won Best Group Build Category at the Build It Awards 2015.
Brought on by Bristol CLT, Fishponds Road has new build and refurbished homes offered to residents for self finish. Located on Brownfield land in the Fishponds area of Bristol, the development is set on the 0.36 acre site of a stone-built Victorian primary school.
The building had been derelict for over 10 years before the council offered it to the CLT for just £1 in March 2014 (the land had been valued at £286,000). The local authority’s forward-thinking move has enabled a scheme that provides 12 mixed-tenure homes and apartments – some for shared ownership and the rest for affordable rental.
Access issues ruled out the idea of demolition and replacement of the original school, so the CLT agreed to convert it into six one-bedroom duplex apartments. Perpendicular to this would be a row of new terraced homes bookended by courtyard-style houses – creating six new three-bedroom properties.The resulting L-shaped scheme is centred around a communal garden the residents will manage themselves – something that was identified as a key feature of the development during early consultation sessions with the CLT members.
The project includes a number of innovative extras, such as the use of a single electrical supply and solar photovoltaic panels, which will allow future residents to benefit from discounted energy.
Cambridge Cohousing’s K1 42-home site has been awarded planning permission by South Cambridgeshire District Council
October 2015
Cambridge Cohousing K1 site appoints developer for custom build site
Cambridge Cohousing K1 site appoints TownHus for its custom build homes site, designed by architects Mole: Custom Build Strategy
September 2015
Cambridge Cohousing’s K1 custom build project is a 40-home site designed by Mole architects to Passivhaus standards.
The site will be made up of a trio of terraced homes and paired flats together with a low-rise apartment block. There is also a shared communal building on site. TOWNHus has been appointed as the developer, with the properties constructed off site.
A project of six homes brought on by its residents under their own development company, Springfield Gardens Group. With a shared vision for how to live, the group commissioned architects Henley Halebrown Rorrison (HHbR) for a set of six houses with green measures and shared social spaces. The build contractors were Sandwood Design & Build.
To get an insight into the resident’s experiences with the site, click here.
Credit: Ioana Marinescu
