Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey has acquired more than 150 acres of land at Emersons Green, near Bristol, to develop about 2,000 homes and employment land over the next 10 years.
The acquisition is one of the largest land transactions in the region in recent years.
Taylor Wimpey bought the land at Emersons Green East from a consortium made up of Heron Homes, Gallagher Estates and Quintain in a deal brokered by Flax Bourton-based specialist land and development agent CJH Land.
Taylor Wimpey will invest more than £100m in the development, which will complement the existing community at Emersons Green, and include shops, schools and a local centre as well as homes and commercial space.
Matthew Hiles of CJH Land said: “We approached Gallagher Estates, which owned 37.5% of the land, abo
ut 18 months ago. In the beginning there was a fair amount of cat and mouse between the two parties, but once a formal offer was made the deal progressed fairly quickly considering its size, and the contracts were exchanged just before Christmas 2011.
“When Quintain, which had a 25% interest in the land, learnt of Taylor Wimpey’s purchase of the Gallagher Estate’s interest, it was very keen to listen to our clients.
“After initial discussions a deal was again quickly agreed. It always helps when you have a willing seller and a willing buyer and in this instance we certainly had that.”
The final piece of the jigsaw was the acquisition of the remaining 37.5% controlled by Heron Homes, which was completed in July.
Matthew added: “From start to finish, the whole deal took about 12 months, which may sound like a long time, but considering the amount of work necessary to purchase a site of this size in three separate transactions, it is actually quite quick.”
CJH Land said it had seen encouraging signs in its part of the property market over recent months.
“The past 18 to 24 months have been very busy for us and we have been involved in a number of significant land sales,” said Matthew. “All of the housebuilders and developers we work with are seeking new land opportunities as the housing market in this part of the country seems pretty stable.”
