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A 12-month ground and remediation project will contribute to plans to prepare the former RAF Oakington base in Cambridgeshire for a Homes England development forming the next phase of Northstowe new town.

The team has been supported by ecologists to maximise environmental opportunities. Northstowe is a sustainable new town comprising homes, education and community space, together with significant green space for the benefit of residents. Employment and commercial facilities are also planned.

CR Civil Engineering, an RSK Group company, is working for CR MacDonald, who are the principal contractor, to deliver the site preparation work for Homes England and project manager and designer Arcadis. The CR Civil Engineering project worked across 25 hectares of the wider 165-hectare site started in September last year and competed in August 2025.

CR Civil Engineering Operations Manager Paul Saysell said: “The Northstowe project is a great example of how civil engineering can support regeneration, bringing significant areas of brownfield land back into use and helping to address the UK’s housing shortage.

“The purpose of the project was to clear and remediate a large earthworks operation at the former RAF base while seeking every opportunity to manage environmental impact, such as vehicle movements and materials reuse, and to embed ecological best practice.”

Paul said the team was able to integrate this environmental emphasis by working with RSK Group companies RSK Raw (providing environmental consultancy and remediation services), ATV Contract Services (vegetation clearance and ecological supervision) and Central Alliance (ground radar surveys).

“As part of our waste and resource management strategy, we were able to put more than 80,000 tonnes of surplus concrete, brick and unsuitable soils back into use as fill by processing and reusing all the material on-site, using crushers and screens to produce usable (6F5 and Class 2) fill and avoiding a huge quantity of waste. Only the contaminated waste and scrap steel has been sent to specialist off-site waste processing centres, a hugely significant reduction of the waste the project could have generated.

“Working with team arborists, we have also retained 11 hectares of mature trees, with more than 50 young trees kept for potential future translocation. The project also made 20 hotspot areas of former contaminated land safe. These efforts all support the broader sustainability goals of the Northstowe masterplan.”

These efforts support wider environmental efforts to create a fresh, green future for Northstowe and support a healthy, active lifestyle for residents. While biodiversity net gain rules require a 10 per cent improvement in biodiversity pre- and post-development, Homes England is committed to exceeding this target and achieving 15% on later phases of development at Northstowe. Supporting this, over a third of the town is designed as publicly accessible open space, with new habitats and lakes created throughout the town to attract wildlife. Meanwhile, miles of cycleways, footpaths, and bridleways connect the town and provide excellent access to the surrounding countryside.

Homes England Technical Services Assistant Director Philip Harker said: “Northstowe is one of the country’s most ambitious multi-phase developments, and laying the right foundations is critical to its long-term success.

“This development is a prime example of how we are working collaboratively with partners, CR Civil Engineering and RSK Group, to deliver the homes people need while embedding environmental sustainability at the heart of the project. This approach ensures that future generations will benefit from a well-planned and resilient community.”

To find out more about Northstowe, visit the website: https://www.northstowe.com/