Strategic housing development

Archaeology for Strategic Housing Development in Cambridgeshire

On a strategic housing allocation, archaeology is a multi-year programme item that interacts with infrastructure delivery, phasing and sales release.

Programme horizon
Multi-year, phased
Clear first
Spine infrastructure and drainage
Cash flow lever
Phase-based discharge
Long tail
Reporting, archive and publication

Why this scheme type carries the requirement it does

Large allocations almost always contain archaeology somewhere. The commercial question is not whether, but how the archaeological programme is sequenced so that each parcel is cleared before it is needed, without paying for the whole site years in advance.

The approach that keeps it proportionate

Push for phase-based condition wording, evaluate the whole site early enough to plan intelligently, and target mitigation parcel by parcel. Spine infrastructure and drainage usually need clearing first, because everything else depends on them.

Questions

Common questions on this

Should we evaluate the whole allocation at once?

Usually yes for evaluation, because it lets you plan phasing and price the liability, and no for mitigation, which is better done parcel by parcel as each phase is needed.

Project review

Archaeology on a strategic housing development scheme?

Send the footprint, the depth of disturbance and the planning position. We will set out the requirement and the programme it implies.