Athena, the first phase at Eddington – the new district being created by the University of Cambridge
Regional director of Hill David Eardley will lead on the first phase of 240 new homes at the housebuilder’s largest residential development to date.
The scheme will eventually see a new community of up to 3,000 homes, together with new university facilities, a primary school sponsored by the university, a supermarket and a large luxury hotel.
With more than 25 years in the housebuilding industry, including 10 of his most recent at one of the UK’s largest housebuilders, David brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the role.
He told the Cambridge Independent: “Athena’s the first private residential scheme for sale – everything else that’s been developed there so far is student accommodation or the Sainsbury’s. “The scheme itself is fairly unique. It’s a combination of two architects that have been involved: ABA [Alison Brooks Architects] and PTE [Pollard Thomas Edwards], and between them they’ve worked together to try and create a design that doesn’t look as though it’s a new development; that looks as though it’s evolved over a period of time.
“The architectural styles are based on a modern-day interpretation of Cambridge, bringing it forward for the 21st century.”
David continued: “It’s got strong architectural features, such as the bay windows, the corner windows, etc., but some basics, like internally the rooms are of a larger size than normal, so it’s quite a spacious development.
“We’ve got high ceilings which alter the effect on the proportion of the buildings, externally, and gives the architects a bit more to play with – and they’ve come up with some cracking designs.”
Other features at Eddington include triple-glazed windows, a site-wide district heating system and a site-wide rainwater harvesting system, to which all the properties are connected.
The first homes are scheduled to be ready in the summer of 2018, following the construction of the showhomes, which should be ready at the end of April.
David said: “I think what’s quite different on this scheme is the way that the university marketed the land to us as a developer.
“This development has been heavily influenced by the architects, both in how the buildings look and how the layout feels, and they’ve got a very different feeling to a lot of more modern products that might be on the market at the moment.”
The marketing suite at Athena is now open.
Prices at the scheme start at £299,950 for a studio apartment, £389,950 for a one-bedroom apartment and £760,000 for a three-bedroom house. Help to Buy is available on properties under £600,000.
For further information, visit athena-cambridge.co.uk or call 0808 168 7900.