Sleaford site sale paves way for over 500 new homes

Savills development team in the East Midlands has completed on two deals that will bring 505 new homes to the Lincolnshire village of Quarrington, part of the market town of Sleaford.

This Sustainable Urban Extension (SUE), known as Handley Chase, is located to the south of the village, which lies around one mile south of Sleaford town centre and has outline planning permission for a total of 1,450 new homes plus additional commercial and care facilities. These development parcels have been sold to Keepmoat Homes who will build 270 units, and Taylor Wimpey who have planning for an additional 235 units.

These two phases will comprise a mixture of two-to-four-bedroom starter and family homes as well as a Co-op food store, which has already been trading for over two years, and a care home scheme, which is under construction. Over time, the project will also provide a two form primary school, community centre, a significant amount of public open space and sports pitches on site, as well as wider community benefits via the Section 106 obligations, including financial contributions towards healthcare, the public realm, primary and secondary schools and transport links.

Savills has sold the serviced development parcels on behalf of the master developers and landowners, Sleaford Property Developments.

Ann Taylor, development director at Savills in Nottingham is leading on the sale. She said: “We are delighted that these two national housebuilders have committed to this exciting development scheme. It is great to see it coming forward and delivering much needed housing into the area, supported by important new facilities, which will benefit both the new and existing residents.

“We advised our clients to create smaller serviced development parcels at Handley Chase to provide a more market facing offering attractive to housebuilders. The serviced development parcels generated certainty and an easy development platform from which to build and take advantage of a strong housing market. There is a good mix of product from these two volume housebuilders, as well as Longhurst Homes and Sleaford Property Developments Limited who are building homes on site. This complementary mix will create a diverse new residential community offering homes to a wide spectrum of the market.”

Sleaford Property Developments director David Hindmarch, added: “We had a clear vision to create a new destination in Lincolnshire offering high quality and accessible housing. We entered into a joint venture with T. Balfe Construction to develop the first phase of homes and ensure the scheme had an impressive gateway into the development. This set the tone for the site and allowed the future housebuilders to build on the quality, design and placemaking legacy we implemented and want to see continued across the wider scheme.”

Janet Stirzaker Keepmoat partnerships director, said: ”Handley Chase provides a new growth area in the East Midlands, as we see this as an important core market for our business. We are on site and already receiving excellent enquiry levels from the immediate population and from further afield.”

Jessica Cooper Taylor Wimpey land director, said: “Having experienced good take up on our residential schemes at Waddington, Bourne and Saxilby, Handley Chase was an obvious subsequent location for the business. We have enjoyed working with Sleaford Property Developments Limited and Savills Nottingham to secure another fantastic sales outlet in Lincolnshire and we are forecasting to open our showhomes and sales outlet later this year.”

The remaining residential phases at Handley Chase are now committed, with further news on this to be released towards the end of the year.