The first major construction contract to transform the historic former Filton Airfield into a thriving new neighbourhood has been awarded to a West Country firm Vertase FLI, based in Portishead.

The historic former airfield – the birthplace of Concorde and supersonic travel – is set to become a new urban community, known as Brabazon. Vertase FLI will carry out the necessary enabling works so that construction can begin later this autumn.

The first phase of new homes at Brabazon, to be built on a parcel of land close to the Trust Ford car dealership on Hayes Way, have been designed by Stirling Prize-winning architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios. The architecture of the 278 new properties reflects the heritage of the site, with the rooflines at Brabazon designed to echo the profile of an airplane’s tail-fin while also maximising light for the homes’ energy-efficient solar panels.

The announcement of the first contract by YTL Developments comes almost exactly 70 years after the Brabazon – the visionary aircraft from which the new neighbourhood takes its name – made its first flight. The Brabazon first took off from Filton Airfield on 4th September 1949, in the process testing new technologies that paved the way for modern commercial aviation as we know it today. Brabazon is designed to live up to that legacy, creating a place for the next generation to live, work and thrive.

The works entail the excavation of over 18,000 cubic metres of earth, weighing over 38,000 tonnes. That’s equivalent to the weight of 300 Concordes. Vertase FLI has designed the works to be as sustainable as possible, ensuring that all of the excavated material will be reused on site.

More: First new homes expected to go on sale in late 2020 &raquo

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Work on building the first batch of new homes on the former Filton Airfield is set to begin before the end of the year after South Gloucestershire Council approved the first ‘reserved matters’ planning application to come forward for the massive 143ha (354 acre) site.

Outline permission for development of the site as a whole was granted in 2015, with the permission including 2,675 homes, 24ha (62 acres) of employment land, three new schools, recreational areas and community facilities, a doctors’ surgery, a new railway station and a dedicated MetroBus route.

The dedicated MetroBus lanes within the development will form part of the Cribbs Patchway MetroBus Extension linking The Mall with Bristol Parkway Station via Gipsy Patch Lane.

YTL Developments, which acquired the Filton Airfield site from BAE Systems in 2015, is now marketing the development under the ‘Brabazon’ brand name, after an aircraft designed by the Bristol Aeroplane Company.

The recently approved reserved matters application, for 278 homes, relates to a parcel of land on the northern boundary of the outline site, close to Hayes Way and just west of the new Aerospace Bristol museum. Access will be from Blenheim Roundabout (near the Trust Ford dealership), and later also from Brabazon Roundabout (near the Wessex Garages dealership) with a U-shaped road eventually being formed between the two roundabouts.

The 278 properties which have received approval consist of two six-storey apartment blocks and one 7-storey apartment block, together providing 151 dwellings, along with 127 two- to four-bedroom homes of either two or three storeys.

Forty-four (15 percent) of the homes in this first phase will be provided as affordable housing. Across the site as a whole, the developer is required to provide 17 percent affordable housing.

More: "… a highly sustainable new residential quarter"

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South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) has announced the completion of an important agreement between developers and landowners which will see thousands of new homes and supporting infrastructure built at the Cribbs Patchway New Neighbourhood (CPNN) over the next ten years.

The new neighbourhood will provide approximately 5,700 dwellings, around 50 hectares of employment land, open spaces, schools, community facilities, a new railway station and a dedicated route for MetroBus.

Dubbed ‘Filton Keynes’, this will be a very major development and SGC says it is keen to ensure that work is co-ordinated and that the potential impacts on surrounding communities are identified and addressed.

Development land within the new neighbourhood is in several different ownerships, including YTL Developments, Deeley Freed, Taylor Wimpey and BAE.

The CPNN framework agreement will ensure that all future development in the area is carried out in a collaborative and co-ordinated way, specifically that the required infrastructure for the whole site is delivered at the appropriate time, in the appropriate location, rather than on a piecemeal basis on individual disparate sites. It will also make sure that access is gained between individual development sites within the new neighbourhood, and ensure triggers for the timing and delivery of infrastructure, services and facilities. The endorsed framework plan demonstrates how access across the wider new neighbourhood can be achieved.

Colin Skellett, chairman of YTL Developments, said:

“Signing the framework agreement is an important step forward in unlocking the Cribbs Patchway New Neighbourhood. Following the granting of outline planning permission in October 2017 for 2,650 new homes and 24 hectares of employment land on our airfield site, YTL is now working on finalising the other planning agreements required to start construction of our new site access in March. We will work with our neighbours, SGC and the local communities to deliver much needed housing across the area.”

More: "Agreement marks another major milestone for the CPNN" »

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South Gloucestershire Council’s planning committee has, for the second time in two years, resolved to approve outline planning permission for the re-development of the 143ha (354 acre) former Filton Airfield site.

A previous planning application for the site was put forward by then-owners BAE Systems in October 2014 and subsequently approved, subject to the signing of agreements requiring the developer to make financial contributions to local infrastructure schemes. However, BAE Systems later sold the site to YTL, a Malaysia-based infrastructure investor, without completing these agreements.

The latest plans, submitted by YTL Developments UK Ltd, retain the headline figure of 2,675 new homes. They also include provision for 24ha (62 acres) of employment space, three new schools, recreational areas and community facilities, a doctors’ surgery, a new railway station and a dedicated MetroBus route.

Filton Airfield is one of the largest brownfield sites in the country, and it represents YTL Developments’ first major project in the UK. The company’s ambition is to create a new neighbourhood where people can live and work, which is seamlessly connected to its surroundings and existing local communities.

Its connectivity with Bristol to the south, Cribbs Causeway and the surrounding neighbourhoods of South Gloucestershire and then beyond to London, has been an essential part of the design, which includes numerous interconnecting cycle paths and public transport options.

YTL will make a major investment in infrastructure and is preparing the site for development. It plans to develop the scheme as a single landowner, to ensure the whole site is well coordinated, well built and well connected to deliver a “thriving new neighbourhood for living and working”. It is hoped that thousands of new jobs will be created in the employment space, with a focus on advanced engineering and aerospace.

More: Construction of buildings could start as early as autumn 2018 »

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