Bulldozers demolish 88 new homes worth up to £850,000 each after problems found

18 January 2024 , 10:15

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The massive housing estate will have more than 1,500 homes once it is finished (Image: Bav Media)

A brand new housing estate is being torn down after developers found defects in 88 homes, with the demolition and rebuild set to cost £40million.

Barratt David Wilson Homes Cambridgeshire said last year the properties at Darwin Green needed to be knocked down owing to foundation issues. Four houses have already been demolished and more with work is set to continue over the next three months. In their planning application to Cambridge City Council, the developers promised to salvage tiles, doors, windows, and kitchen equipment where possible. They also plan to crush and reuse concrete and brick on site. Last June, the company said they discovered during inspections that some homes did not meet their "usual high standards". They decided the best course of action was to demolish and rebuild them.

A spokesman for Barratt David Wilson Homes Cambridgeshire said last June a "small number of unoccupied properties" did not meet their "usual high standards." They explained: "As a five-star house builder we have an extensive quality assurance process and during inspections we found a small number of unoccupied properties at our Darwin Green development did not meet our usual high standards.

The changes to the estate is set to cost the firm £40million (Bav Media)

"Unfortunately, the most effective course of action at this stage is to demolish the properties and rebuild them. We have apologised to the customers affected and understand their frustrations, but we are doing all that we can to lessen the impact of this for them.

"The most important thing is that the homes we build for our customers are of the highest quality possible and this means spotting any mistakes and putting them right, which is what we are doing here."

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The estate will also have a new primary school, supermarket, library, central park, and sports facilities (Bav Media)

The massive development, located just over a mile from the city centre, has approval for up to 1,593 homes. It will also feature a new primary school, supermarket, library, central park, and sports facilities. Phase two of the development is currently under construction, with homes ranging from two to five bedrooms now on sale for between £575,995 and £850,995. It's believed that some of the affected homes had already been sold but are not yet occupied. Some of the affected homes are still being built.

Darwin Green said on its website: "A series of comprehensive measures will be implemented to mitigate the impacts of the demolition works. Seven monitoring stations will be strategically placed throughout the development, as per the approved plans, to monitor and control levels of noise, dust and vibrations.

Bulldozers getting to work on the estate (Bav Media)

"Additionally, fencing will be installed to screen existing residents from the works and water cannons are to be used to help dampen the ground conditions. No demolition works will be undertaken on weekends and the temporary footpath from Windsor Road to Darwin Green will not be closed as a result of the demolition, remaining open on the weekend for the public and residents to use during the agreed times.

"Barratt and David Wilson Homes remains committed to ensuring that mitigation measures are in place to ensure that there is as little impact as possible to residents and the environment."

Local Councillor Cheney Payne was shocked by the news and told The Cambridge Independent, she "couldn't quite believe it."

* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story. You can report any errors to [email protected]

Jo Riley