Architects to co-design the development
Proctor & Matthews has been lined up to build more than 400 homes in the centre of Northstowe new town in Cambridgeshire.
Together with Shedkm the architect is working with Urban Splash, which last week announced that Japanese housebuilding giant Sekisui House was taking a 35% stake in the business.
If it wins planning, the project, on part of the former RAF Oakington base six miles from Cambridge, will be one of the largest sites in the country using modern methods of volumetric construction. All 406 homes will be built off-site at the developer’s factory in Alfreton, Derbyshire.
This second phase as well as the third phase of the Northstowe scheme, which will involve 8,500 new homes including a new town centre, education and sporting facilities as well as office and commercial space, is being led by Homes England.
Three hundred homes across the wider Northstowe development are already occupied.
Nathan Cornish, a director at Urban Splash, said Cambridge was a new market for the firm, “but one that’s already on the map for interesting and pioneering housing design. He added: “Our plans are to make well designed, modular housing more widely available and we are delighted to be working with our long-term partners Homes England to make this happen in Cambridge.”
Proctor & Matthews director Georgina Bignold said: “The design for the new town quarter of Northstowe will create a unique interpretation of a traditional fenland village inspired by the archaeology and rich history of the area.”
The architect said the new homes would include a range of townhouses, mansion and mews blocks, later-living homes and mixed-use buildings. Proctor & Matthews is designing 200 of the homes, while Shedkm is responsible for the other 200 units.
Last week Japan’s Sekisui House announced it was investing £22m in Urban Splash House Holdings, a new operation established alongside Urban Splash, with a view to ramping up capacity at the UK group’s modular homes factory in Alfreton from 200 homes a year to 2,000.
Homes England took a 5% stake in the firm worth just over £3m, while We Buy Any Car founder Noel McKee also invested in the operation, worth around 5%.
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