Kidlington: Blenheim Estate acquires Pye Homes

Blenheim Estate has acquired its long-standing development partner Pye Homes along with its management team.

Established in 1927, the Kidlington-based firm has a recognised tradition of building high quality new homes locally in Oxfordshire and further afield. 

The company is currently working with the Blenheim Estate on building 169 homes at Hanborough Gate and has just started work on 300 homes at Park View, east of Woodstock. 

This includes Blenheim’s first Affordable Housing, with the affordable rental properties available at a 40% discount to the market rent.

“Pye Homes has been an integral part of the local community for more than 90 years, they share many of our values and have an unparalleled understanding of this area,” said Roger File, chief operating officer and property director for Blenheim Estate.

“Our ambition is to build outstanding communities of which we are proud and in which local people truly want to live, grow and prosper. We will own many of the properties for the foreseeable future and will be looking after these communities for hundreds of years to come.

“When you build tomorrow’s heritage today, you need the very closest of working partnerships between landowner and builder – and there is no closer and more trusting partnership than that between Blenheim and Pye. 

“It will also provide a secure long-term future for Pye Homes,” he added.

Property is an integral part of Blenheim’s 10-year development programme that includes tripling the Estate’s contribution to the local economy, creating more than 300 truly affordable homes and creating a £45m endowment fund to ensure the long- term future of the World Heritage Site.

“We are delighted to be joining forces with Blenheim Estate,” said Graham Flint, managing director of Pye Homes.

 “They have a clear and exciting vision to create developments which benefit and add value to the surrounding communities. Their long-term commitment and deeply rooted links to this area make them an ideal partner,” he added.

Blenheim Estate’s new development at Park View, east of Woodstock will be the first to incorporate the principle of Landowner Legacy which recognises local landowners have a social, economic and moral responsibility to deliver developments that its local community can be proud of.

“As an organisation we are in the unique position of having both the experience and the expertise to develop and build high quality homes and communities with access to the land to build them on,” said File. 

“Unlike many commercial property developers, we are inextricably linked to the communities we are working with and we have an overriding sense of responsibility for the socio-economic and aesthetic wellbeing of the area,” he added.