Much-anticipated new homes for King’s Lynn were snapped up as the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk and housing developer Lovell opened their marketing suite at the new Orchard Place development on the 19th and 20th August.
The pre-show home VIP launch – for homeseekers who have previously registered interest in the development – attracted more than 70 visitors over the two days with eight homes reserved and seven ‘early bird’ reservations taken on properties not yet released.
“It was an incredibly busy weekend and very exciting to see such a positive response to our first release of properties,” said Lovell Regional Sales Nanager Adrian Garrood. “The high number of reservations demonstrates the strong demand which exists for these attractive, quality homes in an area where there is currently very little new-build housing. The majority of our purchasers are first-time buyers with most opting to use the Government-backed Help to Buy: Equity loan scheme which is available at the development and helps make buying more affordable.”
The development, taking place through an innovative partnership between the council and Lovell, will see 130 homes built over the next 27 months. The site forms part of a major housing development plan which includes sites known as Lynnsport 1, 3, 4 and 5 and in total will create 361 new open market sale and affordable homes over the next four years.
Cllr Alistair Beales, Cabinet Member for Corporate Projects at the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, commented: “This is a major milestone in this development. We’ve had over 130 enquiries about these properties through the website and a further 20 leaving text numbers. We were delighted to be able to welcome them to the sales office so that they could see the plans and plots in detail. There is a clearly a demand for modern housing in King’s Lynn and this development will help us meet that need.”
The council’s housing team has identified that at least 670 new homes a year are required to be built across the borough to meet housing need. The developments at the Nar Ouse Regeneration Area (NORA) and Lynnsport will help meet that target and ensure people have access to quality homes.
The Orchard Place development offers a mix of two-, three- and four-bed homes and 20 of the units are affordable housing.
This development builds on the success of the council’s other housing scheme at the Nar Ouse Regeneration Area (NORA) where phase one and two are all sold subject to contact. Work on phase 3 is due to start shortly with the first homes to be available late Spring 2018.
In addition to meeting housing need, the partnership approach has also led to training opportunities and apprenticeships as well as jobs in the area.
Cllr Beales added: “Meeting housing need is a key priority, as is using our assets effectively and generating income in order to keep our portion of council tax down. This housing site would not have been developed commercially in the medium-term. By working with a developer partner, we have been able provide new housing and generate income to fund the next phase of the development. We have also been able to invest in improvements around the Lynnsport Leisure Park with new hockey pitches and tennis courts, a new car park, new access road and better access to wildlife areas.”
“We are delighted with the amount of interest this scheme has generated and we’re looking forward to the first show homes opening in a couple of months.”
Lovell Regional Managing Director Simon Medler commented: “Our team were thrilled to give people their first opportunity to visit Orchard Place and find out more about these much-needed high-quality homes which are the first to be delivered through our pioneering, long-term partnership with the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk. Orchard Place significantly increases options for local homeseekers delivering modern, energy-efficient homes suitable for a wide range of residents, in a location benefitting from considerable improvements as a result of the development scheme. We’re very excited to have reached this stage in the construction programme and are making preparations for the launch of the show homes later this year.”
