Luxury housebuilder launches with £15m Knutsford development

The Harvey Homes team on-site in Knutsford

A new Bowden-based property developer has launched, with £15m plans to build 30 luxury family homes near Knutsford.

Father and son team Nicholas and Thomas Harvey Ratcliffe have embarked on the project with the support of specialist lender, Together.

Chartered surveyor Nicholas was previously in charge of supermarket giant Sainsbury’s store development programme in the North West and Northern England and Wales.

He has more than three decades of experience in the property industry.

Now, with son Thomas, he has launched The Harvey Homes Group to deliver high quality residential developments in prime locations across South Manchester and the North West.

Helping them achieve this aim is former Hillcrest Homes managing director, Michael Kennedy.

Michael was at Hillcrest for 17 years and steered the brand from relative obscurity to being recognised as a leading provider of original luxury residences, winning awards including Best Residential Development, Best One-Off Home in the Country and Best Luxury Property in the process.

Prior to that Michael was director of land and new homes at Countrywide and a non-executive director of Equity Housing for six years.

Harvey Homes’ first development occupies a four-acre site on the edge of the village of Lower Peover and will be marketed as ‘Swan Green’.

Award-winning architecture practice, Calder Peel, has been appointed to create nine different house designs for the scheme, ranging from two-bedroom terraced properties to large five-bedroom detached homes.

Nine of the homes have been dedicated as affordable housing and pre-sold to Heylo Housing, with five available via shared ownership and four available for rent.

The entire scheme will be marketed by Harvey Homes working solely with Knutsford-based estate agents, Stuart Rushton & Co.

Infrastructure works commenced last week with main contractor, Bredbury-based Westshield, moving on site.

Bell Munro Consulting has been appointed as civil and structural engineers and Bowdon-based Baker Hollingworth as quantity surveyor and clients’ representative.

Nicholas Harvey Ratcliffe said: “Entrepreneurism is in our blood; in 1887 William Harvey, my great grandfather, was employed as a farm worker just outside Southwold in Suffolk.

“He was only 18-years-old but managed to borrow £400 from Barclays Bank to commission a wooden hulled fishing trawler. He set to sea and this is where the family first achieved financial success.

“The world is forever changing and you need good people to change with it.

“Tom and I are very serious about establishing Harvey Homes as a leading luxury homebuilder and have the perfect high calibre team on board to achieve that goal.

“Collectively, we have nearly 70 years of property experience and a skill set that excels in the critical areas of new home development, site identification, planning, acquisition and implementation.

“Our professional expertise and network of contacts is second to none. That’s a formidable foundation upon which to form a new homes division.”

He added: “Swan Green is the first of many exceptional developments from Harvey Homes. We are actively looking for more opportunities and will recognise all site introductions in the usual manner.”

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