In March 2016, Greg Clark, Communities Secretary said that “A key part of our ambition to build 1 million homes is to get to work on brownfield sites across the country”. The release of MOD sites for housing development is part of that policy; the intention being to reduce the MOD estate by 30%, creating 55,000 new homes.
GTC has considerable experience in delivering utilities connections to ex-MOD sites, stretching back as far as 2001. Connections have been made on developments by Bellway Homes, Bovis Homes, Crest Nicholson, Grainger, Taylor Wimpey and many more. GTC will have connected well over 15,000 homes on ex-MOD land, covering areas from Aldershot and Rendlesham, to Nottingham and Chester.
GTC is providing essential utilities to the new homes being created as a result of the release of MOD land and the Government’s housing plans. In addition, GTC is also furthering the Government’s ambition for the UK to have a ‘world-class digital infrastructure’1, where, on a number of these sites, the company has delivered the most up-to-date and future-proofed Fibre-to-the-Home networks.
The Alconbury development, when complete, in addition to new homes, will deliver three new primary schools and a new secondary school, a health centre, community centres, a network of footpaths and cycleways, two hectares of formal open space and sports pitches, and an Enterprise zone with offices and buildings for small start-ups, manufacturing, engineering and low-carbon companies.
The Alconbury project is just one example of how GTC manages the co-ordination of the existing infrastructure and the construction of new connections necessary on ex-MOD sites. GTC is installing the utilities’ infrastructure for 3,850 homes for Grainger PLC on the ex-MOD Wellesley development near Aldershot. Installing everything at the same time brought real benefits in terms of efficiency and cost, and the site was ready on time and on budget to hand over to the housebuilder to commence the first phase of new homes on this award-winning development.
Tom Brough, GTC’s Sales and Marketing Director, commented: ‘With additional land for new homes still to be released by the MOD, we are looking forward to working on more of these brownfield sites. Housebuilders and developers are well aware of the expertise and commitment that GTC brings to each project and for the larger developments, where we will be onsite for 10 to 20 years, the strength of those long-term relationships is vital.’
Visit www.gtc-uk.co.uk
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