Property round-up: Kingswood Homes; Triton Construction; Create Developments; House price/income ratio; Anwyl Partnerships; Green & Partners

SME developer Kingswood Homes is revolutionising the way people buy new homes by enabling viewers to create their own internal floorplans using virtual reality technology while standing in their potential new property.

Buyers at Kingswood Homes’ developments in Lancashire and Devon can don a VR headset and see walls shift and rooms appear and disappear as they walk through the completed shell of a property, as part of the company’s ground-breaking ‘Shape Your Home’ concept.

It allows buyers to customise the interior layout of a property to match their own lifestyle and ‘see’ in real time how the home would look with various floorplan configurations.

Kingswood Homes managing director, Paul Jones, said: “We launched Shape Your Home during lockdown, recognising that not everyone wants the same interior layout. The layout of a home is hugely personal, yet is currently determined largely for the convenience of the developer, not the customer.

“We have reversed that and the VR technology allows customers to walk through an actual property and see how the different layout options would suit them. Rather than trying to make an existing floorplan meet their needs, our customers can now specify a design they have experienced which perfectly suits them from day one.

“For example, one option is to turn a four-bedroom property into one with three en-suite bedrooms. Another would be to open up the ground floor to create vast open-plan living space. It’s hard to visualise from a floor plan, but we can now let customers stand in the shell of a house and see it transform in front of their eyes.”

Kingswood linked with digital technology and VR specialists Animmersion UK to create the bespoke real time viewing technology.

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Chorlton Park Primary School

Birchwood-based Triton Construction has completed the delivery of a critical new £3.5m extension for Chorlton Park Primary School in Manchester, despite considerable setbacks caused by the pandemic.

At the end of last year Triton secured the 12-month contract to demolish an existing 1960’s school block and replace it with a new state-of-the-art facility including eight classrooms and a sports hall. The works also included external drainage and landscaping.

The project was subsequently beset by considerable restrictions to site activity and supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic. Since it was imperative the school was able to access the extended facilities by the October 2021 term, Triton anticipated shortage of materials and pulled out all stops to secure advanced supplies.

Chris Quinn, at Triton Construction, said: “With prior preparation and planning it is not impossible to deliver, even in unforeseeable circumstances. We attribute this to the fantastic collaboration between all parties to achieve a common goal and the school itself has been hugely cooperative and flexible.”

Triton Construction has extensive experience in all areas of the education sector with recent projects including a £1.95m extension to Bolton Muslim Girls School, and a new £1.75m classroom block extension for Sharples School in Bolton.

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Plans for the hotel

Create Developments, part of Blackpool-based Create Group, says planning consent has now been granted for the development of a new 251-bed ibis Hotel at Edinburgh Airport which it will be completing with sister company, Create Construction.

Create has now signed the franchise agreement with Accor, a world-leading hospitality group, under its globally renowned ibis brand.

Featuring ibis’s new contemporary and urban ‘Plaza’ design concept, the hotel will be a vibrant space creating flexible social and working hubs that are welcoming living spaces for people to meet, work and play. Hotel and interior specialists ICA, in collaboration with the Accor design & technical services team, will bring the global Plaza design concept to life.

The new hotel will also feature a stand-alone restaurant/bar building and provide parking for up to three coaches and 125 cars. Paul Mathison, Create Developments chief executive, said: “With seven live developments at various stages – from planning, construction and branding – we are excited about developing our new relationship with Accor and hope that we can continue to support them in their future expansion journey.”

Create Construction will begin building works later in the year, with a build duration of 70 weeks. The hotel is set to open early 2023.

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The latest research by lettings and estate agent, Benham and Reeves, has revealed that current affordability across the UK property market is at its worst in 10 years, with the average house price to income ratio at its highest levels since 2011.

Research shows that despite strong wage growth resulting in the average net salary hitting £25,123 in 2020, an average house price of £249,633 places UK house price to income affordability at 9.94 (house price divided by income). This means that house prices are now 10 times the average salary and a minimum of one’s year’s salary would be needed for the average deposit.

London remains the least affordable with a score of 15.74, with the South East (12.46) and South West (12.46) also remaining some of the worst regions for property affordability. The North East still ranks as the most affordable region at 6.34, along with Northern Ireland (6.48) and Scotland (6.90).

The North West level stands at 7.80, up from 7.33 in 2019.

With the average first time buyer now paying £209,163 for their first home and earning an annual net salary of £23,643, their house price to income ratio is, of course, higher than that of the average homebuyer at 8.85.

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Tom Anwyl

Anwyl Partnerships, specialists in the provision of residential land and build developments, has secured one of only two places on the Your Housing Group (YHG) construction framework.

The four-year framework agreement will help YHG in meeting its targets of building more than 600 new homes a year while further developing its private rented sector across the North West, Yorkshire and the Midlands. Projects are expected to be valued in the region of £10-20m with up to five projects each year.

Tom Anwyl, managing director of Anwyl Partnerships, said: “We have recently engaged with Your Housing Group and have enjoyed a positive and close working relationship which we now aim to further build upon.

“Your Housing Group are an incredibly aspirational and ambitious organisation in terms of their construction programmes over the coming four years. We look forward to working closely with the team and supporting them in the delivery of various projects, whilst creating much needed quality and affordable homes across the regions.”

Richard Jones, director of growth for Your Housing Group, said: “Following a thorough procurement exercise, we are excited to be moving forward with Anwyl Partnerships on our construction framework, supporting our development programme over the next four years.”

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Manchester Arndale

Green & Partners has been announced as the new leasing consultant at Manchester Arndale.

Tom Plaine, partner of the lease advisory team, will lead the activity at Manchester Arndale on behalf of Green & Partners. Tom has specialised in the retail sector since 2003, undertaking lease renewals, lease re-gears and rent reviews.

Having worked with the Manchester Arndale team previously, he brings valued experience and knowledge of the retail market in Manchester. He is also a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and has acted for clients such as Aviva Investors, Columbia Threadneedle, DWS, Legal & General, and Sovereign Centros.

Green & Partners will work with the Manchester Arndale asset managers to negotiate lease renewals, rent reviews, restructure existing leases and settle rental disputes.

Scott Linard, director – asset management (UK retail and leisure), on behalf of M&G Real Estate, said: “We have worked with Tom for many years – he has extensive knowledge of Manchester, the centre and the current retail market. Manchester is a vibrant city with lots to offer. There are many opportunities and challenges ahead and we have every confidence in Tom and the Arndale team to help us navigate them.”