Arborfield Green: Developers begin transforming army barracks into mini village

Developers have begun transforming a disused army garrison in Arborfield into a vast housing estate.After gaining outline planning permission to build 2,000 homes, a school, 80 extra care flats for the elderly and a neighbourhood centre Crest Nicholson has begun construction.Up until last year the run-down garrison was the regimental headquarters of the Army’s Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and home to hundreds soldiers, trainees and technicians.But the 112-year-old garrison, which was used as a veterinary hospital for wounded horses in the First World War, is now vacant as most of the army personnel have moved to RAF Lyneham and many of the buildings are now due to be demolished.The garrison and areas of farmland around it comprise one of the council’s four strategic development locations and it has been divided and allocated to two developers.Crest Nicholson has assumed ownership of a large section of the site and begun work on the estate, which will be known as Arborfield Green.Other parts of the garrison are still under the control of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation but they are gradually being handed over to the developers.Crest Nicholoson is now in the process of building 113 homes (60 per cent houses and 40 per flats) on the north east section of the site and the buildings will be centred around a large lake.