Friends Life, Threadneedle and L&G are seeking to capitalise on demand for housing in the South East by selling or converting commercial assets.
Friends Life has sold its 1.6 acre Woolmead site in Farnham town centre to Berkeley Homes, which will build 97 homes and 40,000 sq ft of retail space on the site of the existing 1970s office.
In Cranleigh, Threadneedle is looking to sell Hewitt’s Industrial Estate, which has planning permission for a new 120-unit scheme.
L&G is looking to secure a residential consent for the Crescent, a redundant office building in Farnborough, for 120 fats and houses.
David Jones, residential development partner at Knight Frank Guildford, said: “Developing these sites for residential, while being speculative in terms of finding buyers for the individual houses, is proving to be a successful strategy in terms of “recycling” the land with an alternative use.
“Local planning authorities are broadly supportive of such applications as it relieves some of the pressure to develop greenfield sites caused by demand for housing.”
Knight Frank is acting for all three companies.
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