Member Article

Newcastle's Grainger seeks to develop West Berkshire housing scheme

Newcastle-based residential landlord Grainger has submitted a planning application to create a build-to-rent development project in West Berkshire.

Grainger intends to develop land between Newbury railway station and Market Street to create an attractive new gateway to Newbury. The application for the ‘urban village’ includes 232 rental homes, providing a mix of apartments, duplexes and houses, with 10,200 sqft of commercial space.

In addition to the new homes and commercial space, these proposals provide further improvements for Newbury by way of station car parking with additional capacity, replacement car parking for the Council offices, a new station plaza, new landscaped step free pedestrian routes through the site, replacement housing contribution and a new bus station.

The proposals are anticipated to create more than 220 new full time jobs in the next four years and, upon completion, anticipated to provide more than £4m of additional expenditure in local shops and services each year.

Helen Gordon, CEO of Grainger, said: “We are pleased to submit this planning application for over 200 new long term rental homes in Newbury.

“This application follows on from our strategy announcement in late January, where we set out our ambition to significantly grow our Private Rented Sector business by utilising our development expertise and investing over £850m before 2020.”

David Walters, Development Director at Grainger, said: “Our final proposals are a culmination of this extensive public consultation process, and the community’s views have significantly influenced and shaped the plans.

These detailed proposals have been designed with careful consideration to Newbury’s heritage, and we believe will greatly enhance this under-utilised 5.5 acre site in the centre of the town.

“Grainger is proposing the new housing is professionally managed Private Rented Sector (PRS) and affordable homes, meeting local demand and supporting growth, employment and labour mobility in Newbury.

“With over 100 years’ experience in owning housing, Grainger will continue to manage the buildings after construction and be focused on providing the highest quality rental homes for Newbury.”

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