Indigo in Peterborough

The nine-storey Indigo development in the heart of Peterborough has brought much-needed affordable housing to the area.

Indigo is the largest development to date by Cross Keys Homes, providing 315 affordable homes and two retail units - it literally has brought high-quality, affordable living to the city centre.

Scope of work

Indigo comprises two connected wings providing a mixture of 1, 2 and 3 bedroom apartments and duplexes with a private communal courtyard as well balconies and roof terraces. There's also 50 car parking spaces available, 10 with electric vehicle charging points and plenty of open spaces for everyone to enjoy.

We re-designed the initial scheme with Corstorphine + Wright to improve affordability, and produce a more efficient design that would bring about greater quality and programme and cost certainty. A lot of the learnings efficiencies generated through our Perry Barr Residential Scheme project have been implemented into this scheme.

Dr Nik Johnson, Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough:

"Indigo is a fantastic milestone in delivering high-quality, affordable homes for the people of Peterborough. Developments like this are vital for meeting the needs of our growing communities while supporting the vibrancy and regeneration of our city centres.”

Innovation to reduce build costs

The project made best use of innovative construction methods - part of our plan to make efficiency savings through pre-manufactured value. This included using light gauge steel framing and off-site manufacturing, which saw construction times reduced by an estimated 20 to 30 percent compared to traditional methods.

The benefit of offsite manufacturing is that it helps to increase quality and minimise embodied carbon emissions. Elements that will be manufactured offsite include a light-gauge steel frame, brick slips and bathroom pods.

David McCallion, director at Willmott Dixon, said:

“We’re proud to working alongside Cross Keys Homes and our delivery partners to support the development of such a fantastic flagship project in Northminster, which will be crucial in improving access to high-quality, affordable housing in the centre of the city of Peterborough.

Claire Higgins, Chief Executive at CKH:

“Indigo is a fantastic development that is helping transform the way people live, work and socialise in today’s modern society. We hope that by developing Indigo for affordable housing and offering city centre living that we can free up more affordable housing in Peterborough for those who have been priced out of the housing market, helping to combat the housing crisis.”

Our team installed similar bathroom pods at Perry Barr Residential Scheme in Birmingham.