It’s a lovely Friday and the sun is shining on Saxton, Leeds. I’m on my way to a meeting in the city centre and I walk past a group of the existing tenants from Saxton Gardens making use of the seating area on The Avenue we have recently given a make over. While out enjoying a cup of tea and some neighbourly banter I discovered that I share my birthday with the chair of the Saxton Gardens TARA, John Boyd (I did of course on finding out offer up some of my birthday cake which seemed to go down particularly well with the tea!).

We are lucky enough to have a great relationship with the residents on the existing estate, we see them regularly when they pop in to the office to share some news or get an update, we socialise with them at a variety of different events we have held at Saxton or round at the club hosted by them, which are usually over a game of bingo, and not usually won by us!

On a more formal basis we have been attending their AGM for the past six years, the most recent of which was earlier this month. I always come away with a sense of pride in what are trying to do at Saxton and how we have worked and continue to work with John and his committee. The format this year was the same as every other and as always the existing committee were re-elected, and it’s no wonder when you see what a great job they do. Saxton Gardens is a real community, all the people know each other by name (and more than often than not by business too), they all look out for each other and pull together in times of need. The big snow this winter was an outstanding example of this. When a number of the elderly residents felt they were unable to leave their flats because of the icy conditions on the streets, the community rallied round and made sure that all of these people were checked in on daily, and regular group runs to the shops made sure no one went without the essentials.

Urban Splash have been very lucky to be welcomed into this community and even though we haven’t always been the best neighbours, after all we are a building site both noisy and dirty by nature, we still get on well. We haven’t spent our time here without the odd complaint or two, however working alongside John and his committee there hasn’t been a single issue over the years we haven’t been able to resolve amicably. That’s because we know and respect that the people who live here really care about the area and enjoy living here. The Boyd family alone have had at one point 20 members from 5 generations living throughout the estate. Perhaps that’s why it feels like a family, fully fitted with parent like figures making sure people keep the place tidy and pick up their litter after themselves. There is no real secret it’s just about being normal and respectful.

As we near the completion of the first building at Saxton, the number of new residents is growing daily and our first HomeBuy Direct* residents are due to move in within the month. The next challenge for us is to make sure our new residents become part of this community and share the same sense of pride and belonging in the place they live. I hope this relationship will grow, helped by a number of community events. When the allotments are ready for planting, they will also be available for both new and existing residents… we have a number of both on the waiting list already!

I think that Saxton is going to be a great place to live and one of the best in the city centre, we know the communal gardens are pretty unique within Leeds and will be a great asset for the residents and added to this our purchasers will be moving in to a ready made community. As one of the residents said to me a while ago, ‘We love this place, the majority of us have lived here for nearly 50 years and we take great pride in it and we certainly hope that the new residents will do the same, and they are more than welcome to come and have a game of snooker or bingo and a drink with us in the club’. Certainly not an offer I’m refusing!

You may have seen the report in today’s Times newspaper about Leeds, a much debated city which seems to have retained a perception for a few years now that there’s a massive case of oversupply, something the report author claims is simply untrue.

One of the areas of the report that caught my eye was the reference to the fact that the recession and constraints on consumer finance mean that owner occupiers are buying for the long term. It also claims that investors are buying tenanted properties rather than off plan. The author says that this is down to investing for ‘longevity’. If this is the case, and it’s a trend that this report substantiates, then what Leeds really needs is high quality, good size homes that appeal to a broad audience, not just single dwellers.

It’s something we’ve focussed on at Saxton in the East Bank area of the City – a scheme that’s referenced in the report. At Saxton, where we’re converting two former council blocks, we’ve made efforts to create homes, not profit-maximising flats. We’ve expanded the size of the original floorplates, extending outwards to create more spacious apartments. We’ve catered for customers who want outdoor space too - ground floor homes offer private gardens and next year there’ll be allotments available. Furthermore there’s also extensive communal garden space planned, with lush landscaped areas for residents to enjoy. In bringing the more traditional suburban elements into the City we believe that we can add value and help people buy for the long term.

The report also makes reference to the fact that properties need to be well managed and that’s something we too have recognised, the majority of homes in our portfolio are now managed by our in house team.

One final point is that we believe in making high quality homes affordable and that’s why at Saxton, using our relationship with the Government’s Homes and Communities Agency we are offering HomeBuy Direct. It’s a scheme which offers customers an interest free loan for up to 30% of the property’s value, enabling people to buy at Saxton for as little as £70,000 and then staircase into it.

If you’re interested in Saxton or HomeBuy Direct drop us a line at live@urbansplash.co.uk.