More than 100 potential purchasers are expected to attend an event this evening to launch a custom build project planned for a prime canal side site in the centre of Lancaster.
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The project – called Aldcliffe Yard – is one of the first custom build developer-led projects to be launched in the UK.
The scheme is a joint venture between custom builder developer Plot and H20 Urban (a 50:50 partnership between the Canal and River Trust and private property developer bloc). Self build mortgage broker Buildstore has lined up a financial package to support purchasers keen to acquire one of the homes.
Plot Director Richard Thomas said there was huge local and regional interest in the scheme and he expected there to be the potential for a ‘bidding war’ for the plots for the 14 available homes, which vary in size from three to five bedrooms.
Purchasers can buy a serviced plot at Aldcliffe Yard with full planning permission already in place from £110,000. The custom build developer will then work with the purchasers to customise the layout and specification of their homes to match their needs. During this process the developer will work out any cost implications, agree the final build price and then project manage the construction work using a local contractor that has been lined up to build all 14 homes.
Thomas said he expected the 14 purchasers would spend the next three months working with his architects to agree any changes they wanted to their individual homes, so that construction could begin on the whole scheme in the spring of 2014.
The development consists of seven new mews homes overlooking the canal, six refurbished properties (incorporated in some existing listed building on the site) and one new detached house. “The external look of the homes is pretty much settled and has been agreed by the planners, but internally there is almost total freedom for people to have what they want,” said Thomas. “There might also be scope for some of the homes to be merged to create a single larger home”.
One of the main benefits for purchasers is that they will save on stamp duty (as this is paid on the plot value, not the end value of the finished building). So any plots sold for under £125,000 will pay no stamp duty, and with the final properties expected to be worth between £250 and £400,000 this could save purchasers more than £10,000.
The Lancaster project is the first of a number of schemes being progressed by Plot – its next scheme will be in Bollington, Cheshire where six canal side homes are planned. The company says it has a further 400 custom build homes in the pipeline.
