More homes built by Persimmon are ‘falling down’ – only a year after the major developer owned up to ‘sub-standard’ properties in an Oxfordshire village estate.
A brand new house part of the Sycamore Rise development in Thame is undergoing further work to fix a ‘defect’.
A resident of Thame spotted ongoing construction works on one of the homes on Robin Gibb Road earlier this month and was concerned that more of Persimmon’s homes were falling apart.
The street is named after the world-famous singer who was in the Bee Gees, lived in Thame and died in 2012.
Robin Gibb, centre
The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, shared photos with the Oxford Mail that show scaffolding put in place between two of the detached houses on the road.
While no further complaints have been made about the rest of the properties, several builders were also seen working away on the site.
When contacted about the problem, a spokesperson for Persimmon Homes said: “A defect at the property was noticed and rectified to the satisfaction of the owner in a timely and efficient manner and under the terms of the warranty.”
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While Thame councillor Kate Gregory said she was not aware of any current problems with houses at the Sycamore Rise development, she advised worried homeowners to get in touch with the council.
Persimmon Homes, which is based in York, faced heavy criticism in April last year over properties in Wellington Gate in Grove, which were ‘literally falling down’.
The company behind the major 2,500-home development on the village’s former airfield has confirmed it is ‘rebuilding’ several of the homes and none of the ones affected were occupied.
At the time Grove councillor Jenny Hannaby was one of the people who criticised the developers.
While Ms Hannaby did not want to comment on the Sycamore Rise development as Thame is not her ward, she pointed out that Persimmon Homes ‘do not seem to learn’.
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The councillor added: “I do believe they have become much better in Grove as I have stopped receiving complaints from residents like before.”
Ms Hannaby also advised concerned locals to get a community group together to attract the attention of the developer.
She also speculated that an ongoing factor in the rising number of low-quality homes could be the lack of experienced workforce.
The councillor pointed out that as construction workers from outside of the UK are forced to seek employment elsewhere in Europe because of Brexit and the pandemic, many building sites will suffer.
A spokesman for Persimmon Homes said at the time: "As part of our quality control procedures we identified some plots with sub-standard (non-structural) brickwork.
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"We are in the process of taking down and rebuilding to ensure we are completely satisfied with the workmanship."
The homes on Robin Gibb Road are part of the 175 dwellings that the developer received planning permission for in 2016.
Currently some of the properties still on offer at the Sycamore Rise development include five-bedroom houses that range between £665,000 and £750,000.
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