Welborne: Partnership to start building first 600 of 6,000 home site

The Buckland Group has formed unique partnerships with regional housebuilders CG Fry & Son, Thakeham, and Pye Homes to construct the first phase of the new village just to the north of Fareham, which will eventually host 6,000 homes. This new business partnership lets the family-run firms delay paying for the land until the homes are sold.

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Philip Fry, managing director of CG Fry & Son, which is based in Dorset, said tradition and craftsmanship ‘run through the blood’ of the family business and that each project they work on ‘is a bespoke exercise in recreating the features and characteristics that are typical of the surrounding area’.

Rob Boughton, CEO of Thakeham, said the West Sussex-based firm ‘is focused on the communities we create and the wellbeing of those within them’.

“With Welborne, we have an opportunity to build a generation-spanning, sustainable community, a great place to live, and create jobs and training opportunities in the housebuilding industry for local people.”

Graham Flint, managing director of Pye Homes, which is based in Oxfordshire, added: ‘It’s our mission to leave a positive and lasting impact in the communities in which we deliver homes.

“This is why we are excited by some of the innovations that the Welborne project offers. For example, the ground source heat network system that will heat our houses uses considerably less energy than traditional heating methods and saves more carbon as a result. That is better for the planet, and for the residents.”

The Welborne development will include 6,000 homes, schools, shops, green spaces, business and healthcare facilities located near the South Downs National Park and the Hampshire coast.

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Buckland recently submitted detailed planning applications to Fareham Borough Council, marking a significant step toward realising the project.

Councillor Sean Woodward, the leader of the council said: “This is about absolute quality of build and using family companies is extremely positive.

“People get very concerned about the mass volume of houses – concerned about its quality and it’s sameness.

“All of the CGI’s that Buckland produced are going to be a reality.

“We’re at last going to be seeing new homes on the ground early in the new year.”