Ambitious Planning

ambitious planningAmbitious Planning

Doncaster-based park homes operator Serenity Parks might be a relative newcomer to the industry but they have ambitious plans for the future.
The Company was established in 2016 by Directors Gary Burns and Andrew Wilson, who already co-own a successful and longestablished civil engineering business – the NMC Group. After many years of working on engineering projects that included residential and holiday park developments, Gary and Andrew decided to take the plunge and invest in their own parks. “Through our civil engineering contracts we have long been involved with infrastructure and development works for many residential park home estates throughout the country,” explains Gary. “Given the steady increase in this market and the changing perceptions of park home living, we identified a strong opportunity to diversify our business interests and this has proved successful.” Gary and Andrew launched Serenity Parks by taking the opportunity to acquire two existing residential parks in Cheshire that were ripe for re-development.

POPULAR CHOICE

Ambitious planning 2Chester’s Croft is situated in the leafy Stockport suburb of Cheadle Hulme, and was acquired by Serenity Parks in November 2016. Its highly desirable location, just over two miles from Stockport itselfand seven miles from Manchester, makes it a popular choice with residents. The park offers plenty of green outdoor space, as well as excellent travel links, including two nearby rail stations and the ease of Manchester Airport just a few minutes drive away. Since taking on Chester’s Croft, Gary and Andrew have completely redeveloped the park and its infrastructure, investing heavily in surfacing, drainage, curbing and landscaping. They have bought back a number of plots in order to upgrade with new homes for sale. Out of a current 47 plots at Chester’s Croft, just three remain available. Serenity Park’s second Cheshire-based development, Alvanley Park, has also undergone a major upgrade. Many new homes have been added to the site and just one remains for sale out of a total of 40. The park sits in a prestige location in pretty Cheshire countryside and next to National Trust woodland, but with easy access to amenities in the nearby market town of Frodsham.
Both Chester’s Croft and Alvanley Park offer high-end, one and two bedroom park homes from leading manufacturers including Prestige, Oakgrove, Stately Albion and Omar. Both parks cater exclusively for over-55s and offer residents a thriving social scene and a supportive environment in which to spend their later years.
Gary and Andrew did not found Serenity Parks with the intention of just ‘owning parks.’ For them, the business represents an opportunity to create and develop communities.
“We really believe that moving to a park home should not just be a decision of where to live, but also of how,” explains Gary. “We pride ourselves on the lifestyle we enable our residents to lead. By providing attractive, accessible and well-equipped homes, in an environment that actively facilitates positive interaction, we create the perfect park home environment with a real community feel.”

SAFETY AND SECURITY

“Our homes offer an increased level of safety and security compared to city centre or suburban living, as well as encouraging residents to manage a more independent way of life in their later years. When you own a park and see new residents coming to make their home here, you can really see the positive difference in people after just a few months living amongst like-minded new friends.” Serenity Parks was born out of an absolute belief in the huge potential of park home living and its tremendous benefits, not only for park residents, but also for park owners, developers, and local authorities.Gary says: “There has been a seismic change in perceptions of park home living, especially among the over 50s who are placing more importance on leisure and the freedom that park home living can offer. The recent changes to housing policy also mean that residential park homes are now accepted as a dedicated form of housing, which gives us greater confidence in planning policy for more plots.” It’s clear that the tides are turning favourably for park home living but Serenity Parks believe much more needs to be done to educate the Government and local authority planners about the wider benefits of residential park home communities.
With this in mind, Gary and Andrew have created a detailed resource document that they are proactively sharing with local authority planning departments that explains the social, economic and environmental advantages of the park home trend.

HOUSING SUPPLY

Ambitious planning 4Gary says the potential saving to the public purse from park home developments is massive, not to mention the solution they can offer to aid the national housing supply crisis.
“Cheshire, where we already have two parks, is an area of really high demand for homes and there is simply not enough accommodation to go around,” says Gary. “Many areas of the country have the same situation and frustratingly, I believe that not enough is being done to pass off sites for development.”
Gary and Andrew see this challenge as a unique opportunity to change out-dated misconceptions about the park home lifestyle.
With two successful re-developments under their belt in the Northwest, Gary and Andrew are now turning their attentions to other opportunities.
“We are interested in developing more high-end parks in the North but our interest remains national,” says Gary.
“We are ready and able to invest in redevelopment opportunities where we can transform tired sites to offer prestige park home communities in desirable areas. We have plans to double the size of our portfolio year on year over the next three years and promote the Serenity Parks brand UK-wide.”