26 September 2013
TV presenter Charlie Luxton is offering people the chance to build their own homes on a two-acre triangular site in Buckinghamshire.
Mr Luxton is a key consultant working with Green Initiatives: it hopes to gain outline planning permission to deliver the self build housing scheme at Bourton Road in Buckingham.
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The proposal is for ten plots of land, each priced between £100,000-160,000, hosting a mixture of three, four and five-bed linked and detached homes. There would be a design guide with embedded sustainability and energy saving measures; residents would be able to vary the internal design to their own requirements within the constraints set out in the design code, and would form a company to manage the common areas. Once finished, the homes could fetch between £350,000-400,000.
The aim is to secure planning consent by Spring 2014 with the possibility of construction starting that Summer.
Jonathan Harbottle, from Green Initiatives, said: “We have already received a significant amount of interest for this scheme. Once we’ve got planning consent, we’re planning to hold an open day to encourage people to take part in how the layout and execution might work.
“Charlie (Luxton) is very keen that we keep a close eye on the design and work closely with people within a structured design framework. However we want to encourage individual expression within this framework. There is flexibility: people can take a plot and do the rest; or if they like our designs and prefer to kit out the inside then this is also possible.”
Mr Luxton affirmed that space standards and sustainability were higher for self-build than for mass housing. “People moving into a self-build home stay up to 25 years as opposed to 6 years on average for ready-built. By using this approach, money goes directly to local business and trades, and would be very positive for the locality,” he said.
Opinions on the scheme are already being sought via a survey at www.buckinghamselfbuild.com.
