Lichfield land deal paves the way for 70 new homes

Hortons’ Estate Limited has sold a four acre site adjacent to Imperial Retail Park in Lichfield.

Orbit has acquired the plot, on Eastern Avenue, with outline planning permission for up to 70 new homes.

The site is part of a ten acre site purchased by Hortons in 2016 and originally occupied by IMI Norgren.

The Birmingham-based property company developed Imperial Retail Park on six acres, with 60,000 sq ft of space now let to Lidl, Costa Coffee and PureGym. One unit of 10,000 sq ft unit remains.

Richard Norgrove, property director at Hortons’ Estate, said: “The sale to Orbit delivers on our ambition to create a mixed-use scheme. By putting new infrastructure in place we attracted strong interest in the site and look forward to seeing the new homes come forward.”

Orbit is one of the largest housing groups in the country, with a growing portfolio of more than 42,000 homes across the Midlands, East and South East England. It offers homes for outright sale, private rent, shared ownership and social rent. The housing developer already has one site on Eastern Avenue – Saxon Gate – with 90 houses and apartments.

Dan Barnes, land and new business director of Orbit, said: “The purchase of this site will support the growth of much needed, high quality, mixed tenure homes in Lichfield. We are looking forward to starting on site in Spring.”

Hortons’ Estate partnered with Trebor Developments to acquire planning consent and to undertake remediation works and highway improvements to prepare the site.

Mark Wright, partner at Trebor, said: “Throughout the project we received strong levels of support from the Lichfield community for a mixed-use scheme with a significant portion of new homes. With Orbit already delivering Saxon Gate nearby they were a strong contender from the outset of the selection process.”

Picture caption:  Richard Norgrove, property director at Hortons’ Estate Limited