Pictured: Mr and Mrs Smith outside their new bungalow

Hednesford couple John and Maureen Smith have thanked developer St. Modwen for building their beautiful new home.

John and Maureen sold their existing home in the town centre to St. Modwen in order to make way for a new access road as part of the £50 million Hednesford Gateway development. In return, St. Modwen offered to build the couple, who are both in their mid-seventies, a brand new home adjacent to their previous property.

Construction began in February and the Smiths moved into their purpose built bungalow in July. The couple are delighted with their new home which John, who worked in the property industry, was closely involved in designing:

"We had been intending to downsize from our much loved house which had a high maintenance garden, so St. Modwen's offer to build us a new property came at just the right time," commented Mr Smith. "We have lived in Victoria Street for over 25 years and were well aware of local concerns about the future of the town but having seen St. Modwen's plans we were confident things could get better and wanted to stay to see the redevelopment happen. I did the original drawings for the bungalow and these were then interpreted into technical drawings by architects Stephen George and Partners."

The new bungalow sits on the same acreage of as the Smith's previous property with St. Modwen including an Italianate frontage, Mediterranean style rear patio and Mrs Smith's dream kitchen, all of which were specified by the couple.

"We couldn't have had a better team of administrators, tradesmen and site agents supporting us; they were all extremely helpful," continued Mr Smith. "As the build progressed we realised there were a few changes we wanted to make to the design and these were all accommodated enabling us to literally evolve the bungalow as it went up. The finished product is beyond our expectations and we are truly grateful to St. Modwen and their team for delivering exactly what we intended with a far more manageable property than our previous home.  In particular, we owe a debt of gratitude to St. Modwen surveyor Mark Watkins, project managers Prosurv and builder PM Harris' site agent, Dave Hawkins, for their courtesy and patience whilst seeing the project through from start to finish."

Delivered in partnership with Cannock Chase Council, Hednesford Gateway will see the comprehensive redevelopment of Hednesford town centre, designed to deliver a prosperous new future to the town. Committed to supporting the existing local community, the development includes the creation of a new Hollywood Bingo Club, new Reserve Forces and Cadet's Association premises, plus a 10,000 sq ft Aquarius Community/Dance Hall. An 80,000 sq ft elevated Tesco foodstore with undercroft car parking will anchor the scheme with further retail opportunities also provided.

Mark Watkins, development surveyor for St. Modwen commented: "It was clear from the outset that serving the needs of the community would be central to the long term success of Hednesford Gateway. We have worked closely with the town to ensure that the new scheme supports local businesses and community groups but it was also important that we listened to and met the desires of local residents like Mr and Mrs Smith. We reached a perfect solution by building the Smith's their new bungalow and the entire team is extremely proud of the finished product.  

"Mr and Mrs Smith are just one of the many examples of local residents and businesses who have embraced change to help us deliver the new Hednesford town centre. With their ongoing support we have every confidence that the community will soon have an exciting and sustainable new town centre to be truly proud of." 

The construction of the Hednesford Gateway scheme remains on schedule with the new Bingo Club and adjacent retail units, Rugeley Road Car Park, plus the RFCA buildings due to be handed over this Autumn. Tesco, the additional retail units and the new Aquarius Dance Hall will be completed in time for Christmas trading 2012.