The creation of a new landscape-led garden village on the Durham Coast is underway as three housing developers lay the foundations for the development of a new thriving community.
Existing infrastructure works are underway on the new Seaham Garden Village development, which will see 1,500 new homes built over the next 10 years.
There will be a range of homes available, with 750 of the homes being developed for private sale by Taylor Wimpey and Miller Homes and the remaining 750 homes, being developed by Karbon Homes, will be available for a mix of both affordable rent and affordable home ownership options through shared ownership and rent to buy.
Sarah Robson, Director of Development and Regeneration at Karbon Homes said: “It’s great to see work getting underway at Seaham Garden Village. There’s been lots of work to get to this point and starting on site is testament to the hard work of multiple parties, including the developers, Durham County Council and Homes England.
“Working with Taylor Wimpey and Miller Homes is a great opportunity and between us we are focused on delivering a great place to live with different tenure options and various types of homes. This partnership will ensure Seaham Garden Village offers something for everyone and with the large scale of the site, we hope it will provide a great home for many people.”
The 78-hectare garden village, located on the A182 going into Seaham town centre, has sustainability and community spirit at its heart.
In addition to the planned housing, to take advantage of the beautiful location and views out to sea, around 50% of the garden village will be dedicated to managed green space and a range of landscapes and spaces for residents to use. Residents will also benefit from over three miles of landscaped paths and cycle routes.
Steve McCann, Technical Director at Miller Homes, commented: “Seaham Garden Village is an outstanding opportunity to create an attractive and sustainable new community in a highly accessible location. The commencement of work on site is the culmination of several years of design development and we are delighted to be working alongside Karbon Homes and Taylor Wimpey to deliver this high-quality scheme.”
To help build a thriving community, the village will also include associated community facilities including a primary school, a local shopping facility, an innovation centre and a health and wellbeing hub. All homes will also be built to the very latest energy standards.
David Abercrombie, Technical Director at Taylor Wimpey North East said: “This is an exciting development and is a great example of collaboratively working with our consortium partner Miller Homes, and also Karbon Homes, a fundamental partner to the development. This Garden Village project will deliver all the aspects of a thriving community set in a high-quality landscape.”
Both Taylor Wimpey and Miller Homes have begun work on their private sale properties, with first homes expected to become available from Autumn 2023.
Karbon Homes is currently in the process of appointing a new contractor and hope to be on site with homes being built later in the year.
The delivery of the 750 affordable homes by Karbon is supported by funding from Homes England, through Karbon’s Strategic Partnership with the Government’s housing delivery agency.
The strategic partnership has provided Karbon with £131.5m in funding to deliver 2,200 new affordable homes across the North East and Yorkshire over the next few years.
Header image: From left to right, Steve McCann, Technical Director at Miller Homes, Sarah Robson, Director of Development and Regeneration at Karbon Homes and David Abercrombie, Technical Director at Taylor Wimpey North East.
