Work begins on £50m Cheltenham housing development
Wavensmere Homes and Montane Partners have started work on site on its £50m Arkle Court development in Cheltenham’s Central Conservation Area.
The 147-home scheme has begun by redeveloping the North Place surface car park.
A resolution to grant planning approval was announced in August 2024, followed by the recent agreement of the S106 obligations for the scheme. Site enabling works are now underway, with groundworks scheduled to commence in Q2 2025.
Construction for the 75 three-bedroom townhouses and 72 one- and two-bedroom apartments is anticipated to take two and a half years to complete, with the first phase of the project scheduled for home handovers in Q3 2026.
James Dickens, managing director of Wavensmere Homes, said: “We are thrilled to be demonstrating our focus on deliverability by starting work at North Place to continue the renaissance of Cheltenham’s St Paul’s area.
“This significant regeneration scheme will deliver much-needed new homes for the Regency Town – ready to occupy from next year – as well as acting as a strategic stepping stone in our expansion beyond the Midlands.”
Arkle Court has been designed by architects Glancy Nicholls to complement the town’s Regency architecture and create a sustainable new community in the heart of the town centre.
The redevelopment will connect Pittville Park on the one side, through North Place, to the Brewery Quarter, the Lower High Street Poundland site – which will see a mixed-use redevelopment – through to the cyber-tech Hub MX and Minster Gardens.
Cllr Rowena Hay, leader at Cheltenham Borough Council said: “It was wonderful to visit and see work getting underway at the former site of Black & White’s Coach Station, which has been underutilised as a surface car park for many years. Wavensmere’s quality redevelopment will revitalise the street scene, provide homes for local people, while creating jobs and giving a major boost to the economy.”
Wavensmere Homes is constructing six major urban regeneration schemes, located in central Birmingham, Derbyshire, Ipswich, and Wolverhampton. Five further developments – in addition to Arkle Court – are in the immediate pipeline. The Birmingham-headquartered housebuilder has around 3,500 new homes either under construction or in planning.
