Octavius projects are key to new homes
These contemporary projects are just some of the ways in which Octavius is helping unlock new housing developments:
- A1331 Link Road Phase One: Unlocks over 9,000 future homes within a planned, infrastructure-first framework
- Okehampton Interchange: More than 400 new homes built, permitted or identified in the new station’s vicinity
- Long Stratton Bypass: Enabling the development of 1,800 new homes
- Charfield Station: 525 homes proposed by the new station development, 650 more homes planned
- Manchester Victoria Northeast Gateway: Cycle, pedestrian and road enhancements a precursor to the Manchester Victoria North 15,000 home new town
We are seeing a more sophisticated approach to the alignment of housing and transport infrastructure development, with combined authorities helping drive this change.
Housing development, in modern Britain, has always been closely synchronised with the planning of new transport infrastructure. As the government plans 1.5 million new homes during the course of the current parliament, the associated need for enabling transport infrastructure becomes ever more significant.
And the nature of that infrastructure is changing, with the need for increased resilience, sustainability and accessibility demanding increasingly sophisticated solutions. Surface access to new developments via road will always be part of the equation but many major housing projects are now giving as much – or even greater – precedence to multi-modal connectivity via a combination of road with integrated light rail, guided busways, walking and cycle provision.
To some degree this change is being driven by regional devolution under the stewardship of England’s combined mayoral authorities. In many instances their response to the need for significantly increased housing stock has been to align their devolved transport and housing settlements towards more modally agnostic transport infrastructure.
Devolution driven change
“Devolution has put transport at the heart of placemaking,” Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester noted during his keynote Interchange 26 address. His vision for ‘liveability’ is to develop “homes for public transport, not homes for cars.”
With the ability to influence both housing and transport within their regions mayors are in a very strong position to ensure that the transport infrastructure needed to support new homes is planned from a regional perspective and accounted for appropriately during housing programmes’ formative stages. Something “mayors are in a unique position to co-ordinate,” according to Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Mayor, Steve Rotherham, also speaking at Interchange 26.
This desire for greater multi-modal connectivity to be accommodated within new housing developments can also be seen in the government’s plan for seven new towns. The seven locations proposed as new towns will each deliver at least 10,000 homes with several delivering up to 40,000, according to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government announcement, with “neighbourhoods that people can easily get around without a car.”
The response to the plans, in particular, welcome the focus on multi-modal connectivity. “For too long, housing developments have been designed around the car … building homes with high-quality public transport and walking and cycling infrastructure is key to giving people genuine choices about how they travel,” posted the Campaign for Better Transport. While RIBA President Chris Williamson commented, “The emphasis on public transport, as well as walking and cycling infrastructure, is particularly encouraging.”
Roads remain in the mix
Reports of the car’s demise, however, have been greatly exaggerated. The role of road building and enhancement in the drive to unlock new housing should not be underplayed. As an example, up to 40,000 homes are planned around the Bedfordshire village of Tempsford, creating one of the new towns, with building on a former RAF base. Although the plan is dependent upon the confirmation of the East-West rail line, improvements to the A1 and A428 roads also remain crucial to the development.
The importance of the relationship between road building and housing, for the current government is underscored in the latest major roads programme. The Department of Transport’s in-tray included 41 major road and large local schemes proposed by the previous government. Of these only 16 projects were included in the programme announced by Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander in March 2026, to be pursued on the basis they had “the potential to deliver benefits such as unlocking housing.”
There is a renaissance in railway station building, as stations closed after the Beeching Report are revived, and entirely new stations are conceived. Unlocking new housing is a major component of many new station projects. Among the conclusions of the Railway Industry Association’s 2025 Unlocking Station Potential report was that, “Stations and the railway have a proven link to the development and realisation of sustainable homes. This enabling contribution is positive for meeting a national priority.” The report stressed the importance of inter-modal connectivity in achieving this aspect of a station.
The findings were echoed in research undertaken by GWR, which focused on the impact of the railway at 11 of its stations, and concluded that 3,500 new dwellings had been created near the stations since 2025. A further 12,700 homes are expected to be built in the stations’ vicinity between 2026 and 2036. The recently completed Marsh Barton Station, and new Bristol Brabazon Station, are between them expected to have 4,130 new homes in proximity between 2036 and 2040.
The arc of change
Bristol Brabazon Station is part of the multi-modal travel infrastructure strategy for Brabazon and the West Innovation Arc, another of the government’s seven new towns, and a major element of West of England Combined Authority’s plans for boosting the region’s housing stock – leading full circle back to the way in which England’s combined authorities are playing a key role in the development of a more sophisticated alignment of transport and housing strategies.
Ensuring the optimal delivery of integrated transport infrastructure, which achieves combined authorities’ goals, requires a delivery partner who intrinsically understands not only the bespoke challenges of delivering individual modes of transport – but also the complexities involved in how the modes interface with one another and come together to create seamless journeys for passengers. Learn more here: Multi-modal projects need multi-disciplinary leaders.
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Talk to us
Contact us at transformative@octavius.co.uk if you want to know more about the way in which we can support combined authorities’ transport strategies.