Traditional Topping Out Ceremony Marks Milestone In Creation Of 160 New Homes For Swaffham

The construction of 160 new energy-efficient family homes in Swaffham has been marked by a traditional topping-out ceremony – with beer poured over the roof tiles.

Paul LeGrice, managing director of Watton-based Abel Homes, joined site manager John Bright on the roof of the first of the new homes to be made watertight to perform the ceremony, just six weeks before the first tranche of new homes goes on sale.

Abel Homes is building a mixture of one-, two-, three-, and four-bedroom homes on the site off Brandon Road on the southern edge of the town, which has been named ‘Cygnet Rise’.  Forty of the new homes will be provided as affordable homes.

The new homes will all have the top ‘A’ rating for energy efficiency, including features such as photo-voltaic solar panels, underfloor heating, triple glazing and high levels of insulation, and will also feature fibre broadband direct to each home alongside an electric car charging point.

Included in the site will also be a new Tesco Express convenience store, a local centre with a number of small retail units, a 64-bed care home and 40 assisted living homes for older people.

The first homes will go on sale towards the end of July, just seven months after the first sod was cut at the site.  As part of the project, Abel Homes will create a public open space on the site, as well as commissioning a piece of public artwork, as it does at every site where it builds new homes.

Abel Homes managing director Paul LeGrice said, “I am delighted to be topping out the first new home on this fantastic site just seven months after we started work here. 

“This is a very exciting development, because we are not just building new homes here, but creating a whole new community on the southern edge of Swaffham,” said Mr LeGrice. 

“As a locally-based house builder, we understand that we are not just about bricks and mortar, but building communities for people to live in.  That is why we have brought forward innovative plans for this site which includes much-needed accommodation for older people, affordable homes, and retail units to create a real local centre.”

To register an interest in the new homes at Cygnet Rise in Swaffham, and be among the first to know when they are released for sale, visit www.abelhomes.co.uk, or call 01953 8844486.