Oakfield is being delivered by leading partnerships developer Lovell as a design and build scheme for Nationwide Building Society. The development will consist of 239 mixed-tenure homes, 30 per cent of which will be affordable. One-bedroom apartments are available through affordable rent and two, three and four-bedroom terraced houses can be purchased outright via open market sale or with Shared Ownership.
Each home is being fitted with solar panels, powered by air source heat pumps and designed to reach an EPC efficiency rating of A. Many properties will also be pre-wired for residents to install electric car charging points.
Lovell commenced work on the site in August 2022 after replacing Nationwide’s previous construction partner, Mi-space. In December 2022, the doors to the three-bedroom The Cedar style showhome were opened to the public, and in August 2023 the on-site children’s park, made using natural materials, was officially opened.
In January 2024, Phase 1, consisting of the first 74 homes, was completed. Phases 2 and 3 are now well underway, and construction work on the whole development is expected to be finished in late 2025.
James Duffett, regional managing director at Lovell, said: “We are very proud that construction work at Oakfield is progressing well and that Phase 1 is now complete. Our site team is working exceptionally hard to deliver these homes to the highest standard.
“Oakfield is one of the country’s largest ‘off-gas’ communities, and a project that is incredibly important to us at Lovell. We pride ourselves on transforming brownfield sites and creating sustainable communities where people can be proud to live and work. We are looking forward to continuing our work and successful partnership with Nationwide Building Society.”
Rachel Smith, Social Investment Senior Manager at Nationwide Building Society, said: “It’s great to see that the first phase of building at Oakfield is now complete. Despite the pandemic presenting us with challenges, the end result is worth it. The standard of the properties is excellent, and the development has surpassed our expectations.
“We’re glad to see more public conversation around building on brownfield sites – it shows that the industry is catching up to the original logic that drove Oakfield in the first place. We’ve had people starting to move in over the last few months and it’s been great to see that, alongside Lovell, we’re not just building homes but also a whole new community.”
To find out more about the development, visit https://oakfieldswindon.co.uk/. To see the progress that has been made on site, please head to YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYXonsbZPSI.
Lovell is a leading provider of partnership housing, and has been building communities for over 50 years. For more information, visit https://www.lovell.co.uk/.
For more information on Nationwide Building Society, head to https://www.nationwide.co.uk/.
