More than homes: lessons from Greatwell Homes
25 August 2026
Place-shaping is not one big project. It is the accumulation of many decisions and investments, large and small, that make a neighbourhood somewhere people can live well.
Last week I spent the day with Jo Savage, chief executive of Greatwell Homes, some of the Greatwell team, and Councillor Benneyworth, the housing portfolio holder for North Northamptonshire Council, for a look round their work in Wellingborough.
Our day encompassed their head office, which houses an impressive depot and their innovative partnership with Jewson, development sites, a community hub, and the transformation of a tired garage site.
On paper, these are quite different projects, but taken together gave me a real insight into how their commitment to place-shaping influences everything they do.
There were three things in particular that struck me.
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Place-shaping is intentional and takes a long-term view
Nest Lane has the potential to deliver 139 homes over three phases, but at the moment it is just a field. The scale of the opportunity is impressive, but rather than treating the site in isolation, Greatwell are taking time to explore how the wider area, including the next door Hemmingwell Estate, could be transformed as they develop the site, including through co-creation with customers. Development pressures can encourage us to focus on the numbers, which is understandable given the housing crisis, but Greatwell are trying to build a community, not just homes, and that requires a different mindset.
They’ve got a vision for the site and for the people who will live there.
Taking on a development like this obviously carries risk, but also the potential to do something special, and I can’t wait to see how Nest Lane turns out. -
The small things matter
Rydal Mount wasn't a major regeneration scheme. It was a site where seven garages had stood empty for years, alongside poor-quality hardstanding, damaged planters and boundary walls. The garages have now been removed, the area resurfaced and transformed into open parking, with improvements to boundaries and security.
It is easy to overlook this kind of work when we talk about place-shaping. But for the people living nearby, the difference can be significant. Greatwell has now transformed 33 similar sites through its Environmental Improvement Programme, creating around 300 additional parking spaces.
Place-shaping isn't always about building something new. Sometimes it is about seeing potential in an unattractive or underused space and asking what would make it better for the community. -
Good homes need good places around them
Dappletree Court, on the site of an old independent living scheme, is being redeveloped to create an extra-care scheme with 57 new homes for social rent, including one and two-bedroom flats, with the design informed by the HAPPI principles and Greatwell's own quality standards.
But the ambition goes beyond the homes themselves. The scheme considers daylight, privacy, connections with nature, accessibility and communal space, as well as the relationship between public, private and shared areas.
They are working with a developer who has experience of building extra-care and have taken their time to visit other schemes and learn from the experience of what has gone before.
We can build technically excellent homes without necessarily creating places where people want to live and feel connected. The quality of the spaces between buildings, the landscape, opportunities to meet neighbours and the relationship with the surrounding community all contribute to whether a development becomes a successful place.At the Burns Road Community Hub, a piece of land with no specific purpose has been transformed into a children's play area, community orchard and attractive shared space following significant investment and community engagement.
It is the first time Greatwell Homes have developed a community hub of this nature, but they are committed to doing more, and have a vision to put one in the heart of each of their estates. They also have an ambitious rewilding programme underway.I hope they won’t mind me saying that they’ve been inspired by other members of the PlaceShapers network and are an organisation clearly committed to learning.
Place-shaping is not one big project. It is the accumulation of many decisions and investments, large and small, that make a neighbourhood somewhere people can live well, and that was very much in evidence in my visit to Wellingborough and my time with the Greatwell team.