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Hanging from the walls of the boardroom of the Southwick Estate office in north Hampshire are several portraits of the Thistlethwayte family, a visual reminder of the previous owners of the estate spanning many generations.

Two are copies of works originally painted by Thomas Gainsborough, the 18th-century portrait and landscape artist who was a founding member of the Royal Academy. The originals now hang in the Scottish National Academy.

This sense of history frames the conversation I鈥檓 here to have with Mark Thistlethwayte, current owner of the estate, which has been in his family for nearly 500 years, and Charlie Dugdale who leads 博鱼体育集团 Frank鈥檚 Development Partnerships team.

Thistlethwayte is also chairman of Buckland Development, the master developer behind Welborne Garden Village, one of a growing number of landowner-led large-scale housing developments being planned across the country, using a long-term stewardship model that upends the traditional 鈥渂uild it, sell it, move on鈥� economics of housebuilding.

鈥淲e are thinking in generational terms,鈥� Thistlethwayte says as we stand in one of his fields, where the first of 6,000 new homes will be built from 2022. 鈥淚t has taken us 15 years to get to this point, and once we start it will be a 25-year build period, so the whole process will have taken us 40 years.鈥�

That鈥檚 a long time in a sector where success is traditionally measured by short-term results and a focus on housing delivery targets.

鈥淥ur approach [to development] has been to start with a clean sheet of paper and decide how we would like to build a community, and what we鈥檇 like that community to be in 50 or 100 years鈥� time,鈥� explains Thistlethwayte, who was motivated to take matters into his own hands after observing the quality of other developments surrounding his estate, and the threat of a compulsory purchase order that would have seen him lose control of what was built.

It鈥檚 a view shared by Dugdale, who has been advising on the project at Welborne for six years. 鈥淪tewardship is fundamentally all about allowing landowners to participate in the development cycle by maintaining an interest and ensuring that the value of a site is maximised over the long term,鈥� he says.

Long-term

In Welborne, Buckland鈥檚 role as a master developer will see it working in partnership with local and regional housebuilders, with strict but varied design guidelines. It is also committing to invest in and build the all-important social infrastructure itself, which includes on-site healthcare. The model has benefits for housebuilders too, who are able to avoid significant up-front land costs, while giving them the certainty and time to focus on what they do best 鈥� building houses.

鈥淏y bringing housebuilders into a partnership you create a longer-term relationship, perhaps over decades, which aligns the profit motive of all stakeholders from short- to long-term outcomes. That鈥檚 when good decisions start getting made that benefit the future community,鈥� adds Dugdale.

There鈥檚 a lot to like in Welborne as a result. Once complete, it will be home to three primary schools, one secondary school, 20 nurseries, 13 playgrounds, 27 acres of sports facilities, 100,000 sq ft of retail space, 1.1 million sq ft of business space and 208 hectares of park and woodland.

A community trust will also be set up. Initial support 鈥� both in terms of cash and assets 鈥� will come from the estate, but in time it will be led exclusively by residents.

Ex-service personnel and homeless people will be offered the chance to learn new skills, build their own homes and find employment, including learning trades, on the development project as stonemasons, plumbers, plasterers or landscape gardeners.

A lot of the ideas shaping Welborne are not new. 鈥淲e travelled all over the country 鈥� to Poundbury, Bournville, Letchworth Garden City and elsewhere 鈥� to try to work out what it is that works, what doesn鈥檛 work, and what it is that people value. We鈥檝e unashamedly copied what we think is the best of the past and tried to put a 21st-century twist on it,鈥� explains Thistlethwayte.

That involves a focus on sustainability and an aspiration to 鈥渇uture proof鈥� the site. 鈥淲e鈥檙e allowing for drones and for driverless cars,鈥� Thistlethwayte continues. 鈥淲e鈥檝e brought in green energy. We鈥檝e built a solar park that is live now and can power between 13,000 and 16,000 houses, and we鈥檙e getting rid of pylons. We鈥檙e using heat pumps, creating cycle routes and encouraging the consumption of local produce.鈥�

That includes produce from across the wider Southwick Estate, ranging from ice cream from the estate鈥檚 own herd through to beer from the local brewery, thus helping to create a circular economy.

Focusing on the environmental aspect of the development also means that no off-site biodiversity offsetting measures will be required. 鈥淲hat we are building will be far more biodiverse than this field of wheat,鈥� notes Thistlethwayte.

Patient capital 

Of course, no project of this size is without hurdles. 鈥淲hat I鈥檝e learnt from this 鈥� as well as patience 鈥� is that you need to be committed,鈥� points out Thistlethwayte.

鈥淲hether you like it or not there are going to be bumps in the road and you need to be sure from the word go that you鈥檙e not going to fall at the first. You either need the support early on to be able to take it the whole way through or to work with people that will be patient alongside you.鈥�

More broadly, it sets up a wider debate about how we use land to deliver housing. On paper the stewardship delivery model fits with a raft of government policies around building beautiful and green development, though it鈥檚 likely that the timeframes involved jar with policymakers鈥� obsession with housing targets.

As a result, while the number of landowners adopting a stewardship approach to development is growing, it still isn鈥檛 nearly widespread enough. You need deep pockets to get over the road bump that is planning, while the current tax regime is uncertain and has numerous disincentives. Access to long-term finance is another constraint.

Together, it equates to a lot of time, investment and risk before a house has even been built.

鈥淭he government has been told countless times what to do,鈥� comments Thistlethwayte.

鈥淭he answers are in the history of the most successful communities around the country. They know how to support stewardship and how to incentivise responsibility to the future, it鈥檚 just a question of whether they want to listen, of whether they want to encourage long termism or not.鈥�