Urban&Civic has acquired a one-third partnership stake in a site at Wintringham Park in Cambridgeshire from two Nuffield charitable trusts for £13.3m.
The company has been appointed as master developer on the a 400-acre site which, subject to consent, could support the development of up to 2,800 homes, 683,000 sq ft of offices, a district centre and two primary schools.
The trusts comprise the Nuffield Dominions Trust and the Nuffield Oxford Hospitals Fund, which support medical research and teaching at the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust and Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust and at the medical sciences division of the university.
The payment is phased over the next four years with provision for early payments to fund the trusts’ share of accelerated infrastructure investment.
Along with Alconbury and Waterbeach, the project is the third major holding for Urban&Civic.
The three Urban&Civic projects in Cambridgeshire together will deliver 15,000 homes, 4m sq ft of offices, eight primary schools and at least two new secondary schools.
Nigel Hugill, chief executive of Urban&Civic, said: “The real thrill for us is in the prospect of taking our Master Developer model and deploying the Nuffield experience of creating healthier lifestyles to show just what well planned new large-scale projects can achieve. We are aiming for accelerated housing delivery in which improved well being is made a priority from the outset.”
Sir Andrew Dilnot, warden of Nuffield College, Oxford and chair of the Nuffield Dominions Trust, added: “The trusts are committed to furthering medical research and teaching. We have owned the site for 75 years and high-quality development in the context of all that the Nuffield name stands for remains our absolute priority. We are determined that our partnership with Urban&Civic will provide an appropriate financial and environmental legacy.”
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