Oak Farm Meadow on Thorney Green Road, Stowupland, will see the completion of 143 beautiful homes built on a site steeped with historical significance.

The Vistry Group development comprises of a broad mix of house sizes and styles,
delivering something for everyone and offering a site surrounded by wide open, public
spaces and within easy access from a new junction on the B1115 just minutes away
from the A14 that runs between Bury St. Edmunds & Ipswich.

The dwellings are designed to reflect the local area, using a mixture of brick and render and will complement the surrounding green spaces, including the oak trees from which the development takes its name.

Formally two arable fields separated by a pedestrian footpath, Oak Farm Meadow has proved to be rich in history with records suggesting that the site was once home to a medieval roadside settlement, represented by a system of ditched enclosures and associated pits which were meticulously exposed and recorded before construction activities started on site.

The significant archaeology finds unearthed, painted pictures of the lives that once lived on the land. These finds included more than 500 animal bones and pottery dating as far back as the 11th Century. Other artifacts, perhaps the most significant, include Middle Age iron relics and a Roman coin dating back to the 3rd Century.

Significant to what will be the legacy of the site, are the findings of charcoal fragments as these indicate that areas of oak woodland were being used for fuel, mostly likely for heating and food preparation. Many Oak trees can still be seen around the area and this link has given the development its name.

Our work on the fascinating 20-acre site has included the welfare set up, completion of the compound, material storage areas, car parking and walkways Once again partnering with Tru7 Group, topsoil stripping, cut and fill and excavation of two large surface water storage basins where the first activities undertaken.

As with most new developments Anderson completed a S278 works providing both vehicle and pedestrian access to the development, which continued on site in the form of adoptable roads, footways, cycleways with the necessary surface and foul water beneath. Upgrades were necessary to the electricity network, construction of a new electricity substation and due to the topography of the existing site, a foul water pumping station to allow discharge of sewage into the existing pipe network in Thorney Green Road.

As part of the SUDs solution, permeable block paving was installed in larger private parking areas, with smaller areas using standard non-permeable paving.

Groundworks to 143 ground floor units, including trenchfill foundations, substructure brickwork and oversites with clay heave precautions to minimise the effects of the claybased soils were excavated, with more than 1,500m3 of concrete placed.

More than 16,000m2 of green open spaces for use by the residents surrounding the borders of the development.

Anderson Site Manager for this project is Mark Fisher who oversees 12 Anderson employees.