Dandara starts work on 191-home Muse scheme in Milton Keynes Western Expansion Area

Dandara has started construction of 191 homes at The Muse in Whitehouse, Milton Keynes, the housebuilder's latest phase within the city council-led Western Expansion Area, with the first homes due to go on sale in November 2026.

The scheme comprises 58 homes for open market sale, 58 affordable homes and 75 single-family rental homes, in two- to five-bedroom types, Dandara said. The affordable homes will be delivered with Cross Keys Homes, a not-for-profit charitable Community Benefit Society, as social housing and shared ownership.

Dandara will also pay more than £7m in Section 106 contributions towards local healthcare, education and transport, the company said.

Simon Pendlebury, Managing Director at Dandara Northern Home Counties, said: "Starting construction works at The Muse reflects our confidence in Milton Keynes as one of the fastest growing and most desirable places to live in the Home Counties."

The tenure mix

Dandara said rental homes make up 75 of the 191 homes, with the remainder split evenly between open market sale and affordable tenures.

Tenure at The Muse	Homes
Open market sale	58
Affordable	58
Single-family rental	75

Homes will be built to Part L of the Building Regulations with a 31% reduction in carbon emissions against previous standards, Dandara said, with electric vehicle charging points and air source heat pumps fitted as standard.

The first homes are expected to launch off-plan in November 2026, with the first residents moving in by spring 2027.

Dandara's earlier work at Whitehouse

Dandara said the new phase follows its delivery of 218 homes at Whitehouse in December 2025, made up of 59 open market homes, 67 affordable homes and 92 single-family rental homes.

In an earlier announcement, Dandara said it had started construction at a Whitehouse development it also named The Muse, comprising 136 two-, three- and four-bedroom homes and apartments, 41 of them affordable, built with Packaged Living and Aviva Investors as the company's second forward-funded single-family housing development in the region. Homes there were expected to be available to buy from spring 2024, Dandara said. Milton Keynes City Council described Dandara's Whitehouse development as 136 homes in February 2025.

Dandara's Meadow View sales page, which markets three-, four- and five-bedroom homes on Barossa Way in Whitehouse, refers to a phase two launching in autumn or winter 2026. Dandara is also building The Acres, Anglo Gate and Manor Park across Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

The Western Expansion Area

Dandara said the Western Expansion Area is led by Milton Keynes City Council and designed to deliver more than 4,300 homes; the company's earlier announcement described the consortium site as providing a total of 4,320 homes. The Whitehouse development, on former farmland, is to include a secondary school, three primary schools, allotments, shops, parks, commercial space and a community and medical centre.

The council said in February 2025 that Whitehouse already had a medical centre, schools and road links. In the same release it reported that 1,955 homes had been built in the city in nine months against a full-year target of 1,767, the seventh consecutive year Milton Keynes had beaten its housing target, and that it had secured £218m in developer contributions for infrastructure over those seven years.

Cllr Shanika Mahendran, Cabinet Member for Planning and Placemaking at Milton Keynes City Council, said: "Milton Keynes continues to lead the way in housebuilding, not just in our region but across the country."

In the same council release, Pendlebury was quoted as saying Dandara had set up its regional office in the city.

Partners and policy

Cross Keys Homes, which takes the 58 affordable homes, has a development programme to deliver 1,000 homes over three years across the east of England, according to its website.

Pendlebury said Dandara expected the affordable homes to be in high demand from first-time buyers, pointing to the prime minister's announcement of a Your First Home scheme. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said on 26 September 2026 that the equity loan scheme in England would be confirmed at the next Budget. It is expected to support 2.5% deposits backed by 20% government equity loans, with an initial interest-free period, for first-time buyers of new-build homes from developers signed up to the scheme.

Off-plan sales at The Muse are due to open in November 2026.