South Cambridgeshire District Council’s Planning Committee this week approved plans for Inholm, a contemporary Fenland village and the second phase of Cambridgeshire’s new town, Northstowe. Once complete, Northstowe will comprise 10,000 new homes. The homes will be a mix of affordable, shared ownership and private ownership properties.
The new village of Inholm will be the largest in the UK to be manufactured offsite using modern volumetric construction. It is being brought forward by the innovative modern house builder ‘House by Urban Splash’, a new company backed by regeneration specialists Urban Splash, Homes England and Japan’s biggest house builder, Sekisui House.
Inholm comprises a total of 406 modular homes sitting within the context of Northstowe’s masterplan and is inspired by the area’s rich history and previous settlements. The new neighbourhood quarter will be defined by a perimeter of landscapes; country park, sustainable drainage swales, ecological zones and an education campus. 
Proctor & Matthews Architects is the lead architect and masterplanner of the site. The village will encompass a range of housing typologies, later living homes and mixed-use buildings. The modular homes will include designs by architects shedkm, which can be configured by the buyer to their own design before being built in a factory and delivered to site.
With this expansion of Northstowe, House by Urban Splash is bringing its skill and expertise in world-class manufacturing to the East of England, choosing Cambridgeshire as its first location to deliver the homes on a new site. The majority of homes will be manufactured in the House factory in Alfreton, East Midlands.
Mark Latham, Regeneration Director at House says: “We are delighted to launch our first homes in this part of the country and are excited about the opportunities ahead at Northstowe as we contribute to this emerging town.
We want to break new ground and surprise people using the latest building methods combined with bespoke designs. We are offering a range of customisable homes and apartments to suit a wide range of modern families, lifestyles and budgets. We can’t wait to get going.”
Bidwells have been appointed as a local agent acting on behalf of House by Urban Splash
Stephen Kinsella, Chief Land and Development Officer at Homes England, said: “I’m delighted that planning permission has been granted for the first homes to be built on Homes England land at Northstowe, which is a significant step forward for the new town and an important milestone for our joint venture with Urban Splash and Sekisui House.
“This is a really ambitious proposal for 406 
homes using modern methods of construction, and the quality design of these homes really reflects our ambition to deliver outstanding places.”
Stephen Proctor, founder of Proctor & Matthews Architects says: “As masterplanner and lead architect we are delighted to have secured planning permission for phase 2A of the Northstowe community. Our design for this contemporary mixed-use residential quarter is inspired by the form of traditional edge-of-fenland settlements and recent archaeological discoveries within the locality. Innovative clusters of homes employing offsite modular construction will help to deliver a visually distinctive narrative creating a new ‘Inholm’ village for the 21st Century.
Ian Killick, Director at shedkm commented: “We are thrilled that the full range of our customisable, factory-built homes is soon coming to Northstowe. The ‘Inholm’ urban village will feature the most up to date versions of our house and apartment designs, incorporating new technologies and Cambridgeshire-inspired materials and details. We’re working with a great team and have high hopes of creating an exemplar neighbourhood that sets a new benchmark for the use of modern methods of construction.”
The customisable homes will be launching officially late Spring/ early Summer 2020 and some will be available under shared ownership. For more information visit, urbansplash.co.uk
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