Marnel Park, Popley, Basingstoke

Site history:

David Wilson Homes bought this former farm about 3m from Basingstoke town centre in 2004, and secured planning permission to deliver 750 homes, of which 150 would be affordable.

The Popley area has an established community with easy access to the M3, and is an Sentinel Housing Association is the largest landlord in this suburb in Basingstoke.

The project is broken into four phases, with all development finished by 2011.

Scheme history

Sentinel was invited to bid for the affordable homes in phases 2-4 in 2008, comprising 26 x 2 bed apartments, 20 x 2 bed houses, 16 x 3 bed houses, 8 x 2 bed flat-over-garage and 1 x 4 bed house.

The partnership fitted well with Sentinel's biggest ever newbuild programme - and also with other projects in Popley, such as Sentinel's £55m regeneration programme.

The £10.8m overall cost is supported by £4.3m in government grant from the Homes & Communities Agency. Its forerunner the Housing Corporation also funded previous phases for Downland, Sovereign and Thames Valley Housing associations.

Features

As with all new schemes, we're investing in green technology, and the homes are equipped with either air source heat pumps for the apartments or solar panels in the houses.

We raised the specification on our homes by installing track lighting, full wall tiling, and upgrading to steel baths.

Affordability: Rents range from £98 a week for a two bedroom flat to £132 a week for the four bedroom house. The value of the shared ownership homes are £132-£142,000

Completion date: October 2010

Local authority: Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council

Client: Sentinel Housing Association

Developer: David Wilson Homes

Architect: David Wilson Homes

Cost: £10.8m (affordable only)

No homes: 71 houses and apartments (61 for rent, 10 for shared ownership).