Top 60: Market sale development of the year

Arcon Place (see main picture)

“This small, high-quality development presents a bold design which is striking when viewed from the canal-side setting.”

Joyce Ferguson, regional development director, Affinity Sutton

Number of homes in development: 4

Cost: £1.08m

The scheme: The sale of these four large family homes at Arcon Place, Altrincham, is expected to generate £900,000 – enough profit to allow Trafford Housing Trust to build up to 36 affordable homes, or invest in the improvement of existing homes and community infrastructure.

Built by the 9,000-home trust’s residential property business Laurus Homes, the canal-side scheme will provide residents with views of open countryside.

The Arcon Place site, owned by Trafford Housing Trust and Trafford Council, was vacant for a number of years and the development carefully stitches the new homes into the established local neighbourhood.

Homes in the area are predominantly post-war ex-council housing and many residents are tenants of the trust; however, it is becoming increasingly popular among those who want to own their property and many houses have been bought by former renters through Right to Buy.

Described by Trafford Council’s planning committee as “innovative and intelligent”, the Arcon Place scheme provides buyers with the option to purchase a larger family home in the neighbourhood.

Quebec Quarter

“An excellent mixed-tenure development that responds very well to the landscaped characteristics and constraints of the site.”

Gary Day, executive director – land and planning, McCarthy & Stone

Number of homes in development: 368

Cost: £67m

The scheme: At Quebec Quarter in Canada Water, London, L&Q has managed to deliver a high-density urban development which feels low-density.

The housing association, which owns and manages more than 70,000 homes in the capital and across the South East, has built 368 homes on the site – 151 one, two and three-bed properties for open market sale, 69 one and two-bed shared ownership homes, and 65 apartments for affordable rent – yet 65% of the footprint of the development is dedicated to green uses.

Quebec Quarter’s communal green spaces, planting, landscaped internal walkways and series of linear landscaped courtyards connect up to the adjoining Russia Dock Woodland. The careful use of materials, including timber detailing, means the design of the scheme, organised in seven blocks, relates to its existing context.

Working with specialist designers Open Space, L&Q and Alan Camp Architects developed a design that increased projected private sales values at Quebec Quarter by £5m for an additional cost of just £1m.

Profits from the open market and shared ownership homes will fund the delivery of affordable housing at Quebec Quarter and other L&Q sites across the London Borough of Southwark, helping to safeguard the future of affordable housing in the area.

The Bowers

“A high-quality family housing scheme, which optimises the density and development potential of a constrained, centrally-located brownfield site.”

Gary Day, executive director – land and planning, McCarthy & Stone

Number of homes in development: 19

Cost: £7m

The scheme: Built on the site of a former city centre bus depot within the Durham City Conservation Area, The Bowers has brought family homes to an area dominated by student accommodation.

An acute shortage of development opportunities in the centre of Durham made this 19-home scheme a significant one for the local authority, which was keen to see larger properties provided at the site. It was sold by travel operator Arriva to 28,000-home housing association Gentoo in 2011.

Designed and delivered entirely in-house by the housing association, The Bowers consists of 16 four-bed townhouses for open market sale and three two-bedroom mews flats, available to residents with a local connection for 80% of the market sale.

The scheme, which backs on to the ancient woodland of Flass Vale, needed to be constructed within the footprint of the former bus garage, and Gentoo worked with local conservation group Friends of Flass Vale and the local conservation officer to ensure the development would improve the ecological value of the site.

With their slate roofs, timber sash windows and dark bricks, the homes built at The Bowers are rooted in the city’s traditional ‘Durham style’ and demonstrate how former brownfield land can be sensitively brought to life in the centre of a city.

Oldchurch Park

“This has provided affordable homes for first-time buyers. It is thoughtfully laid out around courtyard areas.”

Joyce Ferguson, regional development director, Affinity Sutton

Number of homes in development: 376

Cost: £46m

The scheme: Despite being one of the most affordable London boroughs, the average property for sale in Havering costs around £280,000, meaning that many first-time buyers have been priced out of the area.

At its Oldchurch Park scheme in Romford, Nu Living, a design-led developer which reinvests its profits in further regeneration, has built 376 homes, some of which can be purchased through Help to Buy. Forty-nine of the homes are available for shared ownership.

A one-bedroom apartment at the scheme was priced from £176,500. This meant that those buying their home through Help to Buy needed to put down as little as 5% of the full market price – £8,825 – as a deposit in order to secure a property. Such was the demand for homes at Oldchurch Park, all 374 homes were sold within four months, with around half going to first-time buyers.

Built on a 120,320 sq ft site that was formerly part of the Oldchurch hospital estate, the development includes plenty of public and private outside spaces, with several courtyards as well as homes with balconies and a roof terrace. Nu Living is now anticipating the launch of a fourth phase of development at the scheme, enabling more aspiring homeowners to settle in Havering.