Ten years on and still going strong

Livingcity Group was introduced to the scheme almost at its inception back in 2013. It was invited to offer consultancy services, working alongside Cherwell District Council (CDC)’s in-house professional advisors, and they were tasked with the initial set up of a long-term stewardship for the proposed new community – Graven Hill.

With such a ground-breaking scheme, Livingcity was instrumental in advising on the legal structure for the Management Company, including public consultations and service charge budget assessments to ensure that a fair and reasonable approach was adhered to from the outset.

As the first phases of Graven Hill were completed, Livingcity took on the management of the communal areas that were released at each stage. These included privately owned roadways, as well as the landscaped areas which were not adopted by the Council.

Being involved from Day One has been a huge bonus for Livingcity and the team’s knowledge has evolved alongside the vision for Graven Hill, from the theoretical processes and blueprint stages right though to management planning and then day-to-day support and delivery.

Paul Atkins, Director of Livingcity Asset Management Ltd, explained: “As the development grew, so did Livingcity’s roles and responsibilities across the scheme. We recognised that Graven Hill represented a substantial and important new neighbourhood as opposed to a mere housing development.

“The creation of the Graven Hill Village Management Company (GHVMC) recognised that there are areas that are adopted in a traditional manner, by the local authority, but other areas fell outside this remit and weren’t  managed or maintained by CDC. These came under the newly-formed GHVMC.”

Livingcity’s involvement has been instrumental in providing and managing agency services, using clear and concise scheme design drawings to identify each of the unadopted areas, creating best value Service Charge regimes as part of the management strategy.

A further layer of complexity not seen on a traditional housing estate relates to the many types of tenure on offer at Graven Hill. With a mix of private housing, many of which are self and custom-build, there are also apartment blocks and a substantial stock of affordable housing, managed by Bromford Housing Association. There is also a proposed village community centre as well as retail units and a two-form entry primary school, currently under construction, that is due to open in September this year.  

“Graven Hill has several USPs which Livingcity has embraced on our journey with the GHVMC team,” said Paul. “It is a substantial new community, extremely well located on the edge of the historic town of Bicester, near Bicester Village and all the excellent transport links. For Livingcity, it was the opportunity to become involved at the earliest stage in the creation of a completely new neighbourhood.

“The concept of self-build housing is so innovative and really underpins the unique design aspects embraced by so many homeowners in the village.”

Graven Hill’s Customer Experience Director, Gemma Davis, agrees: “Both the Graven Hill Village and Livingcity’s professional teams have substantial experience in the development of complex residential and mixed-use communities. The complementary skill set, and a mutual respect combined with a lot of hard work, have created a very effective partnership. Graven Hill is a unique community within the UK and we need to have creative solutions that works for everyone, whether they live in a private self or custom build, apartment scheme or affordable home.”

With almost 500 homes now occupied at Graven Hill, Livingcity’s asset management skills have been brought to the forefront with the team taking on the maintenance of several areas of housing, hard and soft landscaping areas and car park areas, as well as the full communal management service of two completed apartment schemes, comprising of 130 units.

Looking to the future,” Paul added: “It has been a delight for us to see such a monumental site develop and come to life between consultancy stages, right through to leaseholders moving in and then taking on the management role. We are immensely proud to be working with Graven Hill and we want to continue to add value and to be involved in the future success of Graven Hill Village.”