From left, site manager Leon Calder, Flagship Homes senior project manager Stephen Jones, contracts manager Neil Hesketh, Lovell regional managing director Simon Medler, and assistant manager Steve Green at Picture House Green in Leiston, Suffolk
Land just a couple of miles from the Suffolk coast is being transformed into a new community for more than 200 people.
Flagship Homes – Flagship Group’s housebuilding subsidiary – is building 74 homes off St Margarets Crescent in Leiston, with the first to be finished in October.
Called Picture House Green, the site will have 55 homes for affordable rent and 19 houses for shared ownership.
Flagship’s senior project manager Stephen Jones said the project would help address the need for affordable housing in the popular area.
The site is around 2.5 miles from the beach at Sizewell, and sits just outside the Suffolk and Essex Coast and Heaths National Landscape, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
Mr Jones said: “We’re using traditional methods to build these homes, which will all feature solar panels.
“They will each have an EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) rating of B. That’s considered excellent in terms of energy efficiency.”
Construction firm Lovell is the main contractor for the project.
Simon Medler, the firm’s regional managing director, said: “We’re delighted to be working once again with Flagship, on this occasion to bring quality, energy-efficient homes to Leiston.
“Picture House Green is located near a fantastic position near an AONB, close to RSPB Minsmere, as well as being close to the Suffolk coastline, including Aldeburgh and Thorpeness. We know these affordable homes will be incredibly popular.”
Site manager Leon Calder, from Lovell, at the Picture House Green site
Leiston was home to the world’s first continuous flow assembly line in the late Victorian era and early 20th Century.
Products made at the Leiston Works included portable steam engines, tractors and munitions during the first and second world wars.
The town also has Suffolk’s oldest purpose-built cinema which has been operating the 106 years – the Leiston Film Theatre.
Its original name, the Picture House Theatre, was the inspiration for the new housing development.
The homes will have direct access to adjacent playing fields and there will be a new children’s play park on the site.
The scheme is part of Flagship’s strategic partnership with Homes England, which is providing grant funding to help with the cost of providing affordable housing.
The project should be finished by December next year.