North Essex Garden Communities

North Essex Garden Communities Ltd was set up in 2017 to take forward proposals for three new garden communities across North Essex, taking forward the Garden City idea for the 21 Century. Prior + Partners are leading a wider consortium to advance the masterplanning and delivery of new communities at Colchester Braintree Borders and Colchester Tendring Borders. 

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The approach recognises the opportunity to provide housing in a new and different way while also supporting the wider economic growth of the area with the North Essex A120 corridor set to see significant employment opportunities and transformational new infrastructure over the next 50 years.

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Combined, the two new communities could deliver up to approximately 34,000 new homes which rises to 43,000 with the inclusion of West of Braintree. 

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Committing to an ‘infrastructure led’ approach, Prior + Partners will have an active role in determining how the developments are planned and supporting NEGC in ‘capturing’ the increase in land value and shaping investment back into the local communities.

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Taking an increased stake in how the land is managed gives further control over the things that matter – speed of build, phasing, design, type of housing and ensuring the services and required infrastructure are in place at the right point.

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In practice this means the Councils decide what gets built where and at what rate, so will be able to ensure new roads, schools, health and leisure facilities are all built ahead of or alongside the homes.