Bishops Green, Newbury
Bishops Green, Newbury, Berkshire
Site history
Bishops Green is a small village on the edge of Greenham Common near Newbury. In 1941, Greenham Common was commandeered by the government for one of 50 new wartime airfields in the South East.By 1942, the RAF had requisitioned land at Bishops Green for accommodation. After World War Two, the base was handed over to the USAAF, and became a key strategic base during the Cold War.
The Nissen huts at Bishops Green were used to re-house local families, and in the early 1950s, Basingstoke Rural District Council replaced them with 95 houses.
Next to this site, the US Air Force built a new tranche of housing - doubling the size of the community. One of the Nissen huts was retained as a community centre.
When the Americans left the area in 1992, the military base was put up for sale and the 'American' homes transferred to Sovereign Housing Association.
Three years later, Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council transferred its housing stock when Sentinel took ownership of the former council homes. The 95 Sentinel homes were of poorer quality and the isolated estate became prone to vandalism.
In 2006, Sentinel secured planning consent to replace the 95 homes with 148 new properties.
Scheme history
The re-development also provides the opportunity to expand the tenure mix and rebuild community pride. The first phase saw the wartime village hall replaced and a new shop established along with 31 new homes and apartments.
The new development creates hard and soft landscaped areas providing safe pedestrian and vehicle routes through the estate. The results will deliver wider public use as well as better community integration.
Features
The whole development is of a very high quality using timber frame construction throughout. The mix of brick and tile design along with rendered frontages is typical of rural design in this area along with 'mock' chimneys.
All properties are built to Eco-homes Very Good standard with 15% built to Lifetime Homes.
Development details
Local authority: Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council
Developer: Hill Partnerships
Architect: CHBC Architects
Cost: £20m
No homes: 148 homes (66 for rent, 41 for shared ownership, 35 private sale, 6 Equity Swap).
Phase three is due for completion in March 2011.
New developments in other regions
There are plans firmly in place for the release of new affordable housing schemes in Newbury, Farnborough and the Popley, Kempshott and Limes Park areas of Basingstoke.
