Richard Rogers Partnership wins bid for £60,000 homes

Richard Rogers Partnership's design for a £60,000 house is to become a reality, after winning a bid to develop the homes at Oxley Park in Milton Keynes.

Working with George Wimpey UK, the team have been appointed by English Partnerships to build the houses following the Design For Manufacture competition launched by the ODPM in April this year.

The Oxley Park site consists of 145 units. 56 of these units will be homes designed to meet the £60,000 target set by EP. The new £60,000 homes follow the government initiative for affordable houses with better design, flexibility increased construction efficiency and delivery.

Key sustainability issues that these houses will address are energy efficiency, including EcoHomes and use of renewable energy, water minimisation, reduction of waste, reducing car dependency and considerate constructors scheme accreditation.

Richard Rogers said,"Working in partnership with our fantastic team, RRP has developed a winning scheme which will deliver flexibility, modern methods of construction and a range of materials, coupled with an ambitious environmental strategy."

Graeme Dodds, Business Development Director of George Wimpey UK said,"The Government set us a challenge. It is a challenge we have met by managing our supply and cost base and by designing a product that is not only affordable but also one that people want to live in. We look forward to entering into full negotiations for the development of this site and then to starting work in 2006."

Oxley Park is close to existing infrastructure, including schools, hospital and shops. George Wimpey and Richard Rogers Partnership are continuing to evolve and develop their housetype designs, in line with a tight delivery programme for the Oxley Park site that has been set by the ODPM. This process will feedback into George Wimpey's forthcoming submissions on the remaining competition sites.

For further information please contact

Richard Rogers Partnership:

Vicky Smith, Tel 020 7746 0411, email vicky.s@rrp.co.uk

George Wimpey:

Carly Slassor, Tel 020 7963 6365, email cslassor@georgewimpey.co.uk

George Wimpey Plc +44 (0)20 7963 6365

ODPM

http://www.odpm.gov.uk/

Note to Editors

The Design for Manufacture competition is the government's challenge to the house-building industry to build a home for a construction cost of £60,000. Over 100 companies took part in the first stage of the competition, with 33 bidders shortlisted to the second stage in June. On 9 August 2005, the Deputy Prime Minister unveiled the nine successful organisations and consortia who had met the Design for Manufacture challenge and were invited to bid to build on one or more of the ten publicly owned sites available through the competition, generating over 1,000 new homes. For further information, log onto: www.designformanufacture.info