Four successful house building companies have been chosen to spearhead the government’s £60,000 house challenge.

Following tough competition from all six bidders involved at this stage, Barratt Developments plc, George Wimpey UK and the Sixtyk Consortium (Crest Nicholson and Kingspan Offsite) have been selected by national regeneration agency, English Partnerships to build their Design for Manufacture homes on four of ten publicly-owned competition sites. This follows the advice of an independent panel of experts.

Trevor Beattie, corporate strategy director for English Partnerships, who are responsible for running the competition on behalf of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) said, "All of the submissions we received at this stage have shown massive improvements on their initial proposals and deserve to be congratulated. The preferred bidders announced today illustrate the very best of these submissions."

These first four competition sites will see the creation of more than 500 homes. At least 30 per cent of homes on each site will be built to a construction cost of £60,000. The remainder will be a mix of smaller and larger homes constructed with similar cost efficiencies. Overall, the competition will see the construction of more than 1,000 new properties.

The preferred bidders for a further six sites are expected to be announced by January 2006, with construction of the first Design for Manufacture homes expected to start in Spring 2006. A publication highlighting the lessons learnt from the competition, together with a public exhibition to showcase the £60,000 home designs are also planned.

Key features from the chosen homes include:

• Flexible floorplans – homes that can adapt to their occupier’s changing lifestyles, such as the house proposed by Barratt with a room in the roof and double height living room, and homes with no internal structural walls, making them more adaptable
• "Eco-hats" – like those proposed by George Wimpey and Sixtyk - central lanterns built into the roofs of homes that allow more natural light in to help manage heat more effectively. All the winning homes achieve EcoHomes "very good" or "excellent" standard
• Built-in surveillance – home designs which enable a good view onto the street from inside the home, in keeping with the requirements of the Secured by Design standard.
• Accessibility – enabling access around the home by wheelchair users, or the flexibility to make changes such as the insertion of a lift.

The four sites are:

• Oxley Park, Milton Keynes: Preferred developer – George Wimpey UK
• Allerton Bywater Millennium Community, Leeds: Preferred developer – Barratt Developments plc
• Upton, Northampton: Preferred developer – Barratt Developments plc
• Renny Lodge, Newport Pagnell: Preferred developer - Sixtyk Consortium