Latimer takes two wins and a commendation at First Time Buyer Readers' Awards

Latimer, the development arm of Clarion Housing Group, has been named Affordable Housing Provider of the Year at the First Time Buyer Readers' Awards, with its Springstead Village scheme in Cambridge taking Best Energy Efficient Home.

Clarion announced the results on 12 October. A third entry, the Twickenham Square joint venture between London Square and Latimer in south-west London, was Highly Commended in the Best Partnership category.

Paul Walker, Director of Sales & Marketing, said in Clarion's announcement: "These awards reflect the passion, expertise and dedication of colleagues across the organisation who work every day to create great homes and communities for our customers."

The awards organiser's published winners list records Latimer by Clarion Housing Group as Affordable Housing Provider of the Year, with Guinness Homes Highly Commended in the same category. For Best Energy-Efficient Home, the organiser credits "Latimer and Bellway | Springstead Village", whereas Clarion's own release refers to Springstead Village alone and does not mention Bellway. The organiser's list shows the Best Partnership award went to PPHA and Persimmon Homes.

Springstead Village

Springstead Village is a 1,200-home development being built north of Cherry Hinton, off Cherry Hinton Road, on 138 acres of land that was once part of the Cambridge Airport site, according to Bellway. Latimer says the scheme is designed to be completely fossil fuel free, with EV charging points and green infrastructure integrated throughout. Bellway said all the houses are heated by air source heat pumps.

Latimer sells two and three bedroom homes at the scheme through shared ownership, while Bellway sells the outright sale homes. The first phase includes 58 affordable homes: 13 for social rent, 38 for affordable rent and seven for shared ownership. Bellway said the keys to the first 22 of these had been handed over, and that the development had recently won Best Partnership at the First Time Buyer Awards.

Twickenham Square

Twickenham Square is a £110m joint venture between London Square and Latimer on the former Richmond upon Thames College site in Egerton Road, according to London Square. The London Borough of Richmond granted planning approval in August 2022 for 212 homes, 51% of them affordable.

Twickenham Square tenure	Homes
London Affordable Rent	28
Shared Ownership	80
Private sale	104

London Square develops the scheme and sells the private homes, with Clarion Housing managing the affordable homes. London Square said it is the fourth scheme it has partnered with Latimer to deliver, and that all the homes will be Net Zero Carbon compatible. BPTW is the architect and Levitt Bernstein the landscape designer.

Richard Cook, Group Director of Development at Clarion Housing Group, said when the joint venture was signed: "This partnership allows us to deliver new affordable housing and the first Net Zero Carbon homes for the local community."

The developer

Clarion says Latimer builds more than 1,400 new homes a year for a group with over 125,000 homes and more than 360,000 residents across the country. Latimer says the majority of the homes it builds will always be for affordable tenures, and that it recycles any profits from private sales back into building and maintaining more affordable homes.

London Square said the first homes at Twickenham Square were expected to complete in 2026.