New development reaches major milestone and gets an exciting new name

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The HRN1 development to the North of Houghton Regis has reached a major milestone this Spring with work starting on the initial part of the new spine road through the site.

The new spine road will provide access to the first phase of development on land to the North of Thornhill Primary School. Now that the development is moving into the construction phase the developer is delighted to announce an exciting new name for the HRN1 site – “Linmere”.

Project Director, Nigel Reid said:

“We wanted to give the site a name that would celebrate the landscape-led design and quality of the new development, whilst simultaneously retaining strong links with the local community and Houghton Regis. The name Linmere means field of lime trees – a native British species which occur naturally in Houghton Regis.

Linmear appears on a 1762 map of the site and is also the name of a pedestrian route in the town. The ethos of the Linmere masterplan is to create a place where wellbeing is prioritised and outdoor living is a way of life. The plans guarantee around 78 hectares (equivalent to 62 cricket pitches) of open green space that will be accessible to all residents in Houghton Regis, not just those living at Linmere. It is the intention that Linmere locals will never be more than 5 minutes’ walk from public green space.”

Nigel Reid added: “I would like to thank the local residents, stakeholders and Councillors who have given their time to attend and participate in all of the consultation exhibitions, workshops and other events that we have held in recent years, whose feedback has been invaluable to us. We look forward to continuing to work with the whole Houghton Regis community as we move into the next phase of the scheme.”

Over the next 15 years, Linmere will deliver an extension to Houghton Regis of 5,150 homes, of a wide range of type, style, character and tenure, as well as three state-of-the-art primary schools, exciting retail, leisure, healthcare and entertainment offerings along with excellent employment opportunities for new and existing residents alike.

The Area Masterplan for this first phase has been approved by Central Bedfordshire Council and will comprise an extension to Thornhill Primary School, 1,000 residential units (including self-build properties), a local centre, formal and informal public open space. An Area Masterplan for the second phase of development has also been submitted to the Council and will include the Visitor Centre, café, site offices, a supermarket, and circa 100 residential units.

The project has already provided a substantial financial contribution to deliver the A5-M1 Link Road which has been open since 2017 and has national supermarket chain Lidl signed up to deliver a new 1 million square foot logistics warehouse adjacent to the M1. The Visitor Centre, café and the first houses are expected to be under construction by 2020. When complete, the whole development is expected to deliver 2,400 new permanent operational jobs, in addition to 2,550 temporary jobs during the construction phase.