The specialist residential development arm of Walters exists to benefit from the track record of delivering development led projects throughout our history and our strong financial position affording us opportunity to fund and plan long term schemes done in the right way. We have for some time worked collaboratively with house, developers and social housing providers to plan and deliver development projects. Our own development schemes enable us to utilise our skills with all aspects of the scoping, planning, remediation, environmental and delivery phases, whilst exploiting our vast experience in civil engineering from designing to delivering major infrastructure projects.
Our first foray into residential development came at CastleGate in Caerphilly. In December 2002, Walters Land purchased approximately 60 acres of brownfield land there. Between 1947 and the late 1970?s the site was used to landfill a wide range of materials including colliery spoil, ash from power stations, quarry and chemical wastes, plus other deposits such as rubber, glass and paper. A robust remediation strategy was designed to ensure that the site would be rendered fit and safe for residential and commercial development. Once we completed the required site remediation and reclamation works, new roads and services were built to accommodate the proposed mixed use development, known as Castlegate. The pioneering development includes an in-ground gas and vapour barrier, one of the first UK developments ever to have such a bespoke designed/constructed system.
To date well over 500 residential units have been built by Bellway Homes, Persimmon Homes and Llanmoor Homes. In addition to the housing, there are successful commercial properties, large areas of public open spaces and playing fields. The Castlegate development has been a great success, giving the new residents a community in which people can enjoy living, working and using the surrounding open spaces and nearby amenities.
Hot on the heels of our success in Caerphilly, we embarked on an even more ambitious reclamation and development scheme at Ffos Las near Trimsaran. Formerly the site of one of Europe?s largest open cast coal mines, it had been loosely backfilled and was effectively a brownfield industrial site. We completed a detailed site survey and environmental study, then proposed a unique solution, the UK?s first purpose built Horseracing course since 1927, coupled with a combination of residential and mixed use infrastructure. The racecourse opened for business in 2009 after an accelerated 2 year combined reclamation/development programme and continues to build on its success. Persimmon Homes have sold the first 250 residential units on this unique site and planning has just been obtained for a further 250.
Building on our brownfield experience, in 2012 we acquired 100 acres of former Aluminium factory land in Rogerstone, Gwent. An industrial site for over 200 years, with copper, iron, steel and aluminium having been made there, it presented a number of site contamination issues. Adjacent to the River Ebbw, initially we had to minimise run-off and maximise effective site drainage to minimise impact. Following a detailed and comprehensive site survey and environmental remediation plan, work was commenced and by 2015 the site was ready to accommodate the first of some 1,000 planned residential units and accompanying infrastructure.
The latest addition to our development portfolio is in Avonmouth where we are constructing a mixed use development compromising a new South West office, workshop, storage and stand by energy generation. Constructed on a former chemical works in an area renowned for its contamination, we are bringing our entire portfolio of expertise to ensure the success of this development.
Walters are always interested in new development opportunities. Should you have a site that you consider suitable for our development division to consider, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
