What is a `Grand New Home`?

In our business we spend a considerable amount of time pouring over site layouts, leafing through brochures of new build developments and dissecting architects' plans and impressions. We imagine what we would do to improve the features of a property mostly from a personal and practical perspective, rather than from a business one.
 
When photos and plans of expensive houses arrive on our desks or desktops, we let our minds wander. What, for example, defines a 'Grand New Home' to enable it to feature on this section of our website?  Does 'grand' mean expensive only, or does it also mean expansive, impressive and ambitious, deluxe, rich,  superior, fantastic, extraordinarily good, exalted, elevated in style, noble, lofty, large, impressive, important, magnificent; is it a unique, architect-designed home?
 
To me, it’s all these things and more - it's a home with soul. And inevitably, it usually carries a very expensive price tag*!
 
Many house-builders produce developments from a standard product range, often replicated in various parts of the country, with very little regional variation. Do they ask themselves, ‘Can we make these units more exciting?’ Unfortunately, many new developments have very little differentiation, are poorly planned and constructed, mainly because there is nominal investment on house design per project (hence the standard product). As awareness of bad design grows and if the planning laws ease up, buyers won’t be satisfied with box like properties for much longer.
 
It's always a joy to see individually designed, design-led homes for the enlightened buyer, the sort that take your breath away, even though you know you'll never be able to afford one yourself. They're usually the homes that win awards, are splashed on the pages of magazines, and are owned by TV stars, footballers, and wealthy businessmen and women.
 
We applaud those property developers who will find a niche and produce something really, really, special, something to stand the test of time and be the envy of house-buyers, and maybe the Grade II listed buildings of the future.
 
We, as land buyers, are often involved in the process of destruction of older properties, often full of character (brown-field sites), which make way for new developments of higher density.  And yet, we are in a good position to report on good and bad design - we have an obsession with buildings and good design, but it is not usually our opinions which are sought, nor count. We carry out market research for our clients, and are always pleased to put forward our ideas for design improvements.
 
Housing shortages, tight planning regulations and low land bank supplies have resulted in buyers having little choice other than to buy the products on offer.
 
Not all modern house design is depressing - I applaud the design by local Worthing developers, Roffey Homes, for their Warnes apartments on Worthing seafront; similarly Berkeley Homes have produced an impressive design at 'Horizon' on Rustington seafront. I'm unconvinced about the plans for the King Alfred Project on Hove seafront in East Sussex by architects Frank Gehry.  But you can’t have it all.
We actively encourage people on to our website to talk about what kind of housing they’d like, and where. Similarly we talk to people who visit our sales offices and so far, the feedback we’ve had has been excellent.
 
Is the new homes industry turning a corner, with buyers demanding improvements to design? Time will tell.
 
* For the purposes of our website, ‘Grand New Homes’ are properties with a sales price of £500,000 plus.