Builder starts work on £25m homes development at Colwyn Bay mansion estate

Work has started on a £25m development of more than 100 homes on a mansion estate in Colwyn Bay.

Developer Bamber Homes is a new division of the Mochdre-based Brenig Group and has been formed to develop the company’s private housebuilding projects.

Their first venture is on a 13-acre site on Queens Drive, Colwyn Bay, where they will build a mixture of houses and apartments on the former John Braddock and Mary Bamber convalescent centre site.

The plans include 14 executive-style apartments in the John Braddock building, originally built as a luxurious mansion-style home for Lord Colwyn in the 1930s and including a croquet lawn, woodland and a small lake.

In addition to the homes in the John Braddock building there will also be building 46 apartments in two blocks as part of a mixed development which will include affordable housing.

Managing directors Mark Parry and Howard Vaughan and Mark Parry said: “We chose Bamber Homes as the name for the new company because the site of the Mary Bamber building is the first project of major significance.

“As such it is a milestone for the Brenig Group as it is our first 100-plus homes site and our first as the developer as well as the builder and we see it as a natural progression in the way Brenig is developing.”

The development is part of a planned expansion into private housing which began three years ago when the company recruited former Redrow and Anwyl Homes executive Bryn Roberts.

Mark added: “Bryn has been responsible for the business plan which will see us build 850 units over the next five to seven years and sell them ourselves. 

“On this 105-home scheme we are also being supported by Watkin Property Ventures Finance Limited who are providing the funding for the development.”

Bryn Roberts said: “This is a great location above Colwyn Bay and with views across to the sea and we believe this will be a unique development with a mix of new build and the renovation of the John Braddock building into executive apartments.

“It is a well-known site which had fallen into a state of disrepair and we are delighted to be able to restore it as part of the regeneration of an important area of Colwyn Bay.”