Plots: 22

Value: £3M

Status: Completed

Thakeham Partnerships was pleased to be involved in this project involving the redevelopment of a brownfield site on the edge of Godalming for Waverley Borough Council.

The existing building had been demolished by the local authority as it no longer met the decent homes standard and there was very low demand for the accommodation. In its place, the Partnerships team has delivered a 24-unit general needs scheme with 100% of the units being let at affordable rent.

The development consists of 14 one-bedroom flats, 8 two-bedroom flats and 2 two-bedroom houses. A total of 55 parking spaces will be provided partly serving other nearby council homes, as well as outdoor amenity space.

We faced a number of challenges in constructing this scheme. Initial site investigations established that the site was contaminated, a problem exacerbated by a high-water table. Our initial design and value engineering review explored various different foundation solutions and resulted in a recommendation to the client to use the Abbey Pinford pile and raft system. This approach allowed us to minimise the amount of contaminated arisings that we needed to remove off-site.

We also discovered, after the contract was signed, that what had been believed to be a private council owned road was in fact a County Council adopted highway. We had to re-design the drainage and negotiate a new strategy for offsite works with all key stakeholders. We achieved this without any additional delay to the contract period.

Plots: 17

Value: £3.1M

Status: Complete

Thakeham have now successfully completed Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the Ockford Ridge scheme for Waverley Borough Council. 

This second phase of the development delivers 17 new homes, as part of Waverley Borough Councils regeneration of the Ockford Ridge Estate. The redevelopment includes the construction of newbuild homes solely for affordable housing.

The quality of the design and the modern methods of timber frame construction means every house achieves air tightness levels that are more than twice that of building regulations, saving heated air from escaping. Technology in the home reduces the need for energy even further. The LED lighting, heating controls, and heat recovery systems for the air and the hot water help save energy and money.  

Renewable technology like the solar photovoltaics on every roof means that the homes generate enough electricity to compensate for the emissions used by the heating system. Across the site, solar panels produce over 38,000kWh of energy, saving nearly 20,000kg of carbon emissions from being produced.

Plots: 37

Value: £6.7m

Status: Completed

This scheme is a regeneration of a council estate owned by Waverley Borough Council. The site forms part of a wider re-development that Thakeham Partnerships is working on with this partner.

Comprising of houses that were no longer deemed fit for purpose, the regeneration of this part of the site delivered 37 new homes that made a real difference in helping the client meet its housing needs. We are also pleased to see that a number of the decanted residents returned to the new homes.

One of Thakeham’s greatest achievements on site at Ockford Ridge, is the relationship built with the local community. We appointed a site dedicated Resident Liason Officer to manage communications with the community.

Along with the RLO, the Partnerships team really focussed on the broader social impact of the site and carefully considered our subcontractor and community needs.

For example, we provided breakfasts to our workers free of charge once a week. The breakfasts were procured from a local church community centre, providing them with an essential revenue stream to continue their community work and our site staff with a weekly morale boost.

The breakfasts were sourced with our staff beliefs in mind, with separate catering provided for our Muslim team members to meet their needs.