Page 27 - link magazine

I seem to recall this being one
THE PRIORY VALE of the wettest autumns for
years and, as a result, we
C14 A I I F NJGr_F made very slow progress on
the roads and provision of
sewers - both of which, were
more like rivers for much of the
ti me, the water coming straight
down Lady Lane and into the
development area.
From a slow start, we built and
sold 81 units in 1994, building
up to a massive 800 units in
1997, quite an impressive
increase within the space of
four years. At the peak we had
twelve of the country's leading
housebuilders building, it's
hardly surprising that it took
only seven years to build over
2,700 houses in the development
known as Abbey Meads.
Some smaller developments
followed and we have now
moved onto the final stage which
entails building nearly 6,000 new
c-arcs.
homes. The planning gain cost
All years five and six Swindon A clear winner finally emerged Above: The winning entry
of Priory Vale has substantially
primary school children were and top prize went to James, a
increased over the years and the
recently invited to put their year five pupil at a local
cost of developing such a
design skills to the test. They primary school. The nine
scheme is beyond the capability
were challenged to create their runners-up were each given a
of one developer, plus of course
own "Bridge of book voucher and a framed
not all the land was in one
Dreams" in a certificate of achievement.
ownership. As a result, the
competition
Nearly a thousand entries were North Swindon Development
devised by local Company was formed acting as
received and the North Swindon both the GWR Community Trust
teacher Linda an enabler in respect of all the
Development Company ( which supports many local
. Knight (left). works. The NSDC is owned and
presented a cheque for £2000 to charities) and the Evolution
run jointly by George Wimpey,
The winning entrant was given the China Challenge, the charity Appeal which has been set up to
Westbury Homes Holdings,
the opportunity of opening fund raising body that Linda raise funds for much needed
Bloor, Bryant Homes, Crest
Priory Bridge, a day of VIP represents. The funds will benefit equipment at local hospitals.
Nicholson and Walmart.
treatment, and a camera with
which to photograph the event. I truly believe that visitors to
Priory Vale will notice a huge
People involved in the design
change from earlier developments
and construction of the Priory
and the Crest Nicholson
Bridge were asked to judge the
development is typical of what
competition and the final panel
you can expect.
comprised John Prothero of
Edmund Nuttall Limited, John
Wallace of Halcrow Group, Jeff
Davis of Trench Farrow and
David Thompson of
Partners and Lorraine Palmer of
Crest Strategic Projects
Bloor Homes. As they were
is a director of the
looking for the most North Swindon
i maginative entry, the task was Development Company.
not a simple one.
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