PROPERTY & ASSETS
Building homes, creating communities
It’s not enough to build housing. People want homes with facilities and a sense of community and place. Sam Veal (pictured), Chief Executive of Blueprint, looks at the need to build new communities, not just houses.
The mismatch between the need for homes and the number built each year is well known. However, focusing purely on numbers risks creating homes and places with little or no consideration for those who will live in them or how they wish to live. At Blueprint, our focus is
delivering great places, great for people and great for the planet. We work to create places where communities thrive, where people want to live, work and socialise – building houses is only part of the picture. We look for sites well-situated
but under-utilised such as our Trent Basin development, the first in a number of schemes bringing a new lease of life to the Nottingham Waterside area. We believe by paying close attention to the fabric and identity of the places we create, harnessing the history of the site and working with the people in our communities, our projects deliver the conditions necessary to support cohesive and sustainable communities. How we live and the living
experience we want is also changing. Successful communities are eclectic in their make-up, embracing people at different stages of their life while recognising the ties that bind us –
environment and the wider community around them. People want cleaner energy and
housebuilders cannot ignore the growing tide of demand from consumers to take control of the carbon footprint of their homes. Our Trent Basin development is home to a pioneering community energy scheme funded by Innovate UK and developed in partnership with the University of Nottingham, which will see renewable energy generated by solar panels stored in the largest community energy battery in Europe, with benefits returned to the community living at the Basin. It’s important to listen to what
‘Our developments put the emphasis on people - we give pedestrians priority over the car’
such as a shared interest in the environment, a love of outdoor spaces, multi-generational living or even the opportunity to build your own home with a community of people that share your ambition. Our developments put the
emphasis on people – we give pedestrians priority over the car and think carefully about how streetscapes, landscaping and layouts create pleasant journeys
through the neighbourhood. We believe people want to know and engage with their neighbours and as such do not market our developments to investors, choosing to focus on those buyers who intend to live in the home they are purchasing. We also support the formation
of residents’ forums, providing the seed capital for a community fund so residents can invest in their
Cranes arrive as progress looks up at Unity Square
Development at Unity Square has reached a significant milestone with the site’s cranes now onsite. Work to complete HMRC’s 13th regional centre is
well under way, with the development’s 100-metre- tall cranes now in operation. “A lot has been achieved in a short amount of time
and we’re pleased with how work is progressing,” said Rachel Wood, of Sladen Estates, the site’s developers alongside Peveril Securities. The 1.14-hectare site in Queensbridge Road –
opposite Nottingham train station – will eventually comprise two buildings totalling more than 62,000sq m of office space. Rachel continued: “The footprint of the building is
now taking shape, with the planned basement area of the building now fully excavated.
86 business network July/August 2019 “When complete, Unity Square’s new Grade A
office space will accommodate 4,000 of HMRC’s full- time employees, bringing more business and more jobs to the city. “With the work taking place across Nottingham’s Southside, it’s a great time for the city’s construction industry and we’re proud to be part of this significant redevelopment programme.” The HMRC estate transformation is one of the
largest in the UK and it has entered into a 25-year lease on the development. The completed development will see around 4,000 civil servants working in modern and collaborative spaces. Work is being completed by fellow Chamber member Bowmer + Kirkland and phase one is due to complete in summer 2021.
local people want and incorporate this into the design wherever possible. Our Fruit Market development in Sneinton is a wonderful example of how we’ve taken this engagement one step further with the creation of Nottingham’s first group custom- build community. Here, buyers can work with the
architects to individually customise the size, layout and look of their new homes, as well as helping design shared elements that will be owned and managed by the custom-built group.
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