The housing site at the SnOasis development in Great Blakenham, Suffolk has received a boost of £5.485m from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).

The cash injection will signal the start of the SnOasis development; specifically unlocking 121 homes which will be delivered jointly by Orbit Homes and Onslow Suffolk Ltd.

The housing site had stalled due to the cost of works and the downturn in the demand for private housing, but it's back on track after the HCA brought forward the scheme following recent confirmation of funding by the Treasury for a handful of Kickstart 2 schemes in the East of England that were already pre-approved, but for which funding was previously in doubt, following initial cuts to the HCA's Kickstart budget in May 2010.


The housing site is part of a much larger project at Great Blakenham known as SnOasis – a £350 million leisure complex to be built on the former Masons Quarry Site. It will provide a 'snow dome' offering a variety of winter sporting activities and hotel accommodation. The centre will take around two and a half years to build, providing approximately 3500 construction jobs and 2,000 full time jobs when complete. Notably, it will also source around 75 percent of its energy from low-carbon and renewable sources.

Planning permission for the housing site at the former Mason Cements Works was finalised in March 2010, but because of the difficult economic climate and housing market conditions works had not been able to commence. When completed, the homes will be a mixture of social rented, Low Cost Home Ownership (LCHO) and private sale.

Godfrey Spanner, Managing Director, Onslow Suffolk Ltd said: "Our housing development will regenerate an area which has been derelict for quite some time. It will provide facilities and services to the local community where none has existed previously. As our company philosophy demands, we must deliver a development which enhances the lives of the people who live and work within it."

(CD)