Malvern development site snapped up for housing
Solihull-based Living Space Housing has acquired a six-acre development site in Cradley, on the outskirts of Malvern in conjunction with affordable housing provider Stonewater.
The site has planning approval for 51 two, three and four-bedroom homes, together with a new playground.
Twenty-five of the homes will be for sale on the open market, 12 for shared ownership and 14 of the properties have been designated as affordable homes for rent.
The scheme will be called Pixiefields, which the site has always been known as.
The shared ownership and rented homes will be developed by Living Space on behalf of Stonewater, through a development agreement worth £3.8m. While the 25 open market homes will be developed and marketed by Living Space.
The Pixiefields site was originally brought forward by Living Space’s sister company Terra, which specialises in acquiring and creating enhanced value for residential land.
Steve Davies, managing director of Living Space Housing, said: “Pixiefields is Living Space’s first development with planning approval in place. This is a stunning site with inspiring views over the Malvern Hills. We are making preparations to start on site in September. The build programme is scheduled to take 18 months to complete, but we are working on having a live sales presence on site from April 2020.”
Living Space Housing is a new company specialising in providing an end-to-end service to Registered Providers (RPs), enabling them to deliver more homes with greater efficiency. Living Space takes care of land, planning, design, build and development. It can also assist RPs by delivering open market homes in order to help with a scheme’s viability.
Based at The Courtyard on Warwick Road in Solihull, Living Space has deals in place for a total of four development sites, representing a combined construction value of £22m. Three out of four of the schemes will start on site before the end of 2019, delivering a combined total of 166 homes to the market.
Matt Crucefix, assistant director for development (West) at Stonewater, said: “Stonewater is pleased to be working in partnership with Living Space and bringing these much-needed affordable homes to Pixiefields. Across the organisation we are committed to giving everyone the opportunity to live in a home they are proud of and we recognise that this is especially challenging in rural areas where wages are low, but property prices in villages such as Cradley are high. It is for this reason these homes will be offered across a mixture of tenures – including social, affordable rent and shared ownership – so that depending on the needs of the family or individual there will be a suitable and affordable option for them.
“In addition to the section 106 homes, we’re providing an additional five affordable homes through our strategic partnership with Homes England. This funding has enabled us to develop even more homes, like this, across the country.”
