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One of Leicester’s most long-standing, yet innovative housebuilders, Westleigh Developments Ltd, has stepped up its search for land for both its residential and commercial building projects across the East Midlands. The Whetstone-based firm, which builds homes for private sale and for housing associations, business parks, offices and manufactures its own timber frames for housing, is actively looking for new sites and is in the process of acquiring land for forthcoming schemes across all areas of the business. Chris Beighton, Managing Director at Westleigh said, “Despite market concerns our continued land buying is evidence that we are confident in the future of the property market. We are fortunate that our knowledge and reach of skills mean we are not dependant on any one market type, plus our extensive knowledge of the East Midlands and its local authorities allows us to pick sites where we know we can add value.” In recent months, Westleigh’s New Homes division has been doing well with all 21 apartments at its landmark development in Narborough, The Pinnacle, now occupied. Its Saddlers Court development in Melton Mowbray, designed specifically with the over 55s in mind, has just a single one-bedroom apartment remaining. Meanwhile, early interest has been encouraging at its Cherry Bank development in Lincoln, where six three- and four-bedroom 2.5 storey homes have recently been released for sale following the initial phase of development here. Westleigh’s commercial division has also experienced success across a number of its schemes in the recent past. Its LE3 development, close to junction 21 of the M1, has just seen building work begin on its second building following the successful completion of a new headquarters for a regional marketing firm. Construction work has also begun at its Vista Park trade development in Kettering, which has seen half of the scheme acquired by a local, private investment company. Finally, The Point in Market Harborough is now complete after the final office unit here was recently sold to an existing occupier, which has chosen to expand having originally moved to the development eighteen months ago. On the Partnership Homes front, Westleigh has enjoyed tremendous recent success, securing £30m of government funding for 12 projects across the East Midlands in partnership with local housing associations. This funding equates to 503 new affordable homes and a total investment of £60m. As a result of this funding, the Westframe factory in Enderby has increased its production of timber frames to its highest level in two years and has recently enlarged its workforce to cope both with this demand and to be able to supply frames for external developers.
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