Weston Homes, the leading volume housebuilder, has today announced plans to invest up to £500 million in strategic land acquisitions over the coming five years, buying new homes sites across outer London and the South East in order to further expand the company’s existing £2.13 billion portfolio of pipeline developments, which will deliver over 7,500 new homes.

Weston Homes will look to purchase sites that can deliver between 100 to 1,000 units on any individual sites, the sites can be either brownfield or greenfield sites, and can be for sale with an existing planning consent or subject to planning. The housebuilder will focus on acquiring sites within a 10-15 minute walk of a railway station or public transport facility.

Weston Homes will be looking for sites in locations such Bracknell, Barking, Watford, Hayes and Harlow, and commuter towns within 30 minutes of London including Reading, Stevenage, Borehamwood, Hitchin, Brentwood, Woking and Epping.

With a strong track record of converting historic buildings into new homes including Royal Earlswood, Denham Film Studios and Cambridge Military Hospital, Weston Homes is also interested in Grade II listed or historically important country houses, corporate headquarters or Victorian or Edwardian era educational or medical buildings which could be converted into new residential or mixed use addresses.

Over the last five years Weston Homes has purchased land sites that will deliver £2.13 billion (Gross Completed Value) worth of residential and mixed use development across outer London and the South East which includes 20 current active sites and over 7,500 new homes in the pipeline including traditional housing and large scale urban regeneration projects.

The new £500 million land buying commitment follows strong sales performance across the business and the successful sell out and completion of projects including Denham Film Studios, Fletton Quays, Langley Square, Victoria Central and the selling out of the initial phases of Gun Hill Park, Abbey Quay and Edinburgh Way.

Bob Weston, Chairman & Managing Director of Weston Homes, says: “Due to sales success and the sell out and completion of several major projects Weston Homes has allocated £500 million for land buying and are seeking attractive land opportunities to grow our development pipeline yet further.”

Weston Homes land buying department is headed up by Land Director Dawn Wylie who joined the business in 2006 and works closely with Bob Weston and Planning and Design Director Steve Hatton to identify land buying opportunities and bid on sites.

Founded in 1987 by Chairman and Managing Director Bob Weston, Weston Homes is a major employer with 515 employees across Weston Group Plc. and alongside acquiring new land the group continues to look at attracting new talent year-on-year and benefits from a strong record of investing in the careers of its existing employees.