North Horsham development: Legal & General plans to build 200 ‘sustainable and affordable’ homes

The housebuilder said it has submitted plans to deliver its first suburban build to rent SBTR scheme as part of its £1bn multi-tenure site in North Horsham

Bringing together its Build to Rent, Affordable Housing and Modular Homes businesses, L&G seeks to deliver 200 new homes which will be an exemplar in sustainable and affordable family accommodation, forming part of Legal & General’s 2,750 home master plan for North Horsham, a spokesman said. The scheme will use modern methods of construction to accelerate the delivery of the site whilst minimising its environmental impact.

He added: “If granted planning permission, Legal & General’s £70 million scheme in North Horsham will deliver 124 Suburban Build To Rent homes, alongside 97 homes for social rent, affordable rent and shared ownership.

“The SBTR development is focused on lower cost housing for families, meeting the need identified in the council’s Local Plan, which states: ‘the cost of housing is high which can make it hard for [families] to stay or move back to the District’. The scheme will offer a high proportion of two and three bed houses which are most suited to families in the area.”

As part of Legal & General’s commitment for its residential homes to be operationally net-zero carbon from 2030, North Horsham is targeting to be one of the first EPC A-Rated SBTR and affordable development in the UK, he said. Legal & General is making strong progress towards its mission to deliver a fully sustainable housing platform, with the development in North Horsham following two net-zero schemes announced by its later living business, Inspired Villages, earlier this year.

Trialling a new model which prioritises developing important infrastructure for local areas in the first building phase, Legal & General has advanced the completion of the infrastructure for a new school, Bohunt School, to bolster high quality options for nearby families. The school is expected to be open from January 2022.

With excellent road and transport links to employment hot-spots including London, North Horsham will also offer a village centre, commercial space, a new supermarket and green spaces to provide residents with homes which allow them to live, work, play and grow.

Nigel Wilson,group CEO of Legal & General said: “England has a shortfall of over four million homes and the affordability gap for buyers and renters continues to increase.

“We are proud to be making the first steps towards delivering our first Suburban Build to Rent scheme in North Horsham to offer more quality rental options outside urban areas.

“This SBTR scheme is an exceptional opportunity for Legal & General to deliver a site using the spectrum of its housing platform, bringing forward much needed affordable family housing.

“In a new approach which prioritises developing important infrastructure for local areas in the first building phase, Legal & General has helped advance the completion of the infrastructure for a new school, Bohunt School, to bolster high quality options for nearby families. It will also use modular methods of construction to ensure speed, scale and quality of delivery, as well as helping to build back better by delivering one of the UK’s first EPC A-Rated Suburban Build to Rent and affordable housing schemes.”