Wates helps fast-track Daedalus homes

Wates is investing £25m into a housing development on the site of an old air base on the Hampshire coast.Wates Residential has joined forces with Homes England to build 200 new homes built at Daedalus, the former Royal Naval Air Station Lee-on-Solent, in Gosport.The new homes at Daedalus Waterfront will be some of the first constructed under the Direct Commissioning Initiative, which is the government’s drive to fast-track the building of homes on publicly-owned land. The project is scheduled to start on site in summe2r 018 with completion expected in summer 2020, delivering homes at a much faster pace than customary for the market.The houses, 120 private homes and 80 affordable homes for local people, will be built of traditional materials with brick facades and tiled roofs.First established as a seaplane base in 1917 during the First World War, Daedalus later became the main training establishment and administrative centre of the Fleet Air Arm. The site fell into disrepair following its decommissioning in 1996, and was subsequently acquired by the government’s Homes & Communities Agency, which was renamed Homes England last month.