Property developer St Modwen has been assigned a mission to help deliver around 3,000 new homes and cyber security business facilities next to GCHQ and the National Security Centre in Cheltenham.
The Birmingham-headquartered company will partner Midlands Land Portfolio Limited, the property development arm of Severn Trent, to develop the 154-acre mixed-use site to the west of the town, known as the Golden Valley Development.
The project is set to create new jobs and add to Cheltenham's burgeoning cyber sector through the building of a set of facilities dubbed the ‘Cyber Central Cluster’. This is being designed to bring together leading businesses and innovators alongside academic facilities dedicated to cyber and technologies.
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A planning application for the development could be brought forward as early as this year, which in addition to the new homes will include communal green space, shops and cafes, and local infrastructure improvements.
Guy Gusterson, St Modwen’s managing director of strategic land and regeneration, said: “The west Cheltenham development presents a unique opportunity to shape and deliver a new community next to a globally recognised hub for cyber security.
“The development team and I are excited to work in partnership with MLPL on this regionally significant development which will deliver much-needed housing as well as jobs.
“We will work with local stakeholders to deliver a diverse new community where new homes will sit amongst green shared spaces as we deliver a vibrant, sustainable and richly deserving scheme."
Julie Rossiter, head of property development at Severn Trent, welcomed the news. She added: “We are confident that by bringing St. Modwen’s expertise to this scheme that together, alongside the other major stakeholders involved, we will help to realise the vision for the Golden Valley Development.
“This regionally and nationally significant development will be bringing much needed new jobs and sustainable housing to the area. We at Severn Trent are particularly pleased that we are able to recycle our redundant land assets for the benefit of the communities in which we operate.”
Cheltenham is seen as an increasingly desirable place to live, with the town recently topping a list of the 10 best places to spend the national lockdown in, according to BusinessLive's sister site Gloucestershire Live.
St Modwen, co-founded by the late businessman Sir Stanley Clarke and his brother-in-law Jim Leavesley in 1966, delivered 1,000 new homes in 2019. It is active across England and South Wales and has a national portfolio totalling £1.4bn.
