Living Space Housing Breaks Ground at 72-acre Canal Village Scheme in Warwickshire

Living Space Housing has commenced construction at the Hawkesbury ‘canal village’ scheme, located in the Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough of Warwickshire. The 72-acre redevelopment project has a projected GDV of £115m. 

Living Space’s remit is to undertake circa £3m of enabling works, infrastructure, and the construction of new community facilities. PLC house-builder Vistry Group will then deliver the first phase of housing at the site, which consists of 204 homes across a total of 32-acres. Vistry Group purchased the land with detailed planning consent from Living Space’s sister company Terra earlier this year for an undisclosed sum. The strategic land company has a live planning application lodged for the second phase of 296 homes. 

The entire length of the development area is bounded by Coventry Canal, with vehicular access provided from Stockley Road and Sephton Drive - both off Blackhorse Road. The site lies just north of Hawkesbury village, which is served by regular bus routes, schooling and local amenities. 

The works being undertaken by Living Space includes a circa 2,000 sq ft community building with a dedicated car park, creation of new allotments, an orchard, Public Open Space and a children’s play area, a BMX track, cycle and pedestrian routes - including a new Sustrans link - habitat enhancement, landscaping and associated highway works. Vistry will then commence construction for 153 open market properties and 51 affordable homes.

Steve Davies, Managing Director of Living Space Housing said: “We are thrilled to be delivering the infrastructure works and community facilities to kick-start development at this strategic site in the village of Hawkesbury. The scheme will have a transformative effect on the local area and provide significant community benefits for north Warwickshire.

“The cycle routes and pathways that we will be constructing will create new linkages with Coventry, which is only five miles away. The community building will be an ideal space to enable local people to come together, and we will also be erecting extensive new facilities specifically for young children and teenagers.”

There are four ponds/pools across the site, including Hawkesbury Farm Pool, which will all be retained and will form a key part of the ecology strategy for the scheme. The site is traversed by three public footpaths, which provide links with Hawkesbury Village to the south; Bayton Road Industrial Estate and Bedworth town centre to the west; and along Coventry Canal and beyond to Coventry Way to the north and south. The development will retain these footpaths, with new links to be created north-south and east-west through the centre of the site. The scheme will also create two acres of allotment gardens with timber storage sheds and a community orchard.