Work has started on a new 560-home estate at Felixstowe - with demolition gangs clearing part of the site ready for the builders to move in.
A row of single-storey former farm buildings used as industrial units has been knocked down and the ground levelled as part of preparations, which will include creating the entrance to the development.
The buildings off Gulpher Road and Candlet Road were used over the years to house a number of businesses, including a boat builder and a sign-making company.
Persimmon has now submitted to East Suffolk Council plans for the road layout for the first phase of the estate, including the latest masterplan, and a host of infrastructure, including drainage and surface water management, and a construction plan.
The development will be called Trelawny Place - commemorating Ian Trelawny, who with Gordon Parker developed the ailing Port of Felixstowe in the 1950s into a major trade powerhouse and container port.
Ian Hamilton, managing director of Persimmon Homes Suffolk, said: “This development will bring much-needed new homes and an economic boost to the area, laying the foundations for a thriving new community to the north of the town.
“A project of this scale has the potential to create more than 750 jobs – both those directly employed in the construction of the site, and indirectly through the supply chain and additional spending within the local community.”
Phase one of the project will see 255 one-, two-, three-, four- and five-bed homes built with 85 of them affordable homes.
Persimmon's 560-home project is seen as the first phase of a 2,000-home garden neighbourhood and it will feature play provision, open space and landscaping, a circular pathway and pedestrian and cycle ways linking the development to the wider garden neighbourhood.
The mixture of traditional and contemporary house types will be have 20% of energy from renewable sources, electric vehicle charging points, wildlife habitats and water features.
The first homes are expected to be available in the autumn.
Later phases will include a community centre, 60 bedroom extra care home and 50 assisted living units, and business units.
Talks are under way between the district council and landowners in the area to assemble the site for the garden neighbourhood - stretching from Eastward Ho to the A14 dock spur roundabout and set to include a £25million state-of-the-art leisure centre - and draw up a masterplan.
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