Couple queue all night to secure their dream house in Liverpool Housing Partnership

With the first homes for sale at Knights Park in Woolton, one young Liverpool couple queued up overnight to make sure they reserved the new house they wanted at the development.

Jonathan Powell and his fiancée Dannika Burnell, both in their mid-20s, had their sights set on a three-bedroom detached ‘Warwick’ house style. Theirs was one of three homes to be reserved out of 21 three- and four-bedroom properties at the Redrow Homes scheme.

“We arrived at site at 10.00pm and parked our car as close to the sales office as we could,” explains Jonathan. At 2.30am someone else arrived so we set up some chairs and sat outside for the rest of the night. 

“My mum and dad came at 7.00am and took over so that we could pop home and get showered and changed. We had been following the development and knew exactly which house we wanted and we simply didn’t want to miss out.”

The couple had been saving hard for a deposit since they started work in 2008 – Jonathan is a joiner and Dannika works in administration for Morrison’s supermarket. Each currently living with their respective parents, the pair are getting married next May but hope to exchange contracts on their brand new home in August this year.

“It’s not been easy to save the money we need but living at home with parents has helped,” says Jonathan, who grew up in Woolton and went to Woolton County Primary School. “We’d really set our hearts on living here. If Redrow hadn't acquired Knights Park we may have considered new homes in other parts of the city, but Woolton was our first choice. An older, second-hand home would have been a last resort as we both really wanted a new-build.

“A new home like the ‘Warwick’ suited our needs and our lifestyle with features such as an open-plan kitchen/dining room, en suite and downstairs cloakroom.  We also felt that with it being our first home together and with us getting married next year it would be easier to buy a property that was all ready for us to move into.”

Cllr Frank Hont, Liverpool City Council’s cabinet member for housing, later met the couple to talk about their story. He says: “I was delighted to meet Jonathan and Dannika and see for myself their excitement at securing their first home together. The Liverpool Housing Partnership is all about delivering new and refurbished homes right across the city for people with a wide range of budgets. The level of interest in this development proves that there is demand for a wider range of properties within Liverpool.”

Knights Park is Redrow’s debut development within the Liverpool Housing Partnership scheme, a collaboration with Liverpool City Council and London Mutual Homes (LMH) at the site of the old Watergate School.

Redrow and LMH will jointly build 1,500 new homes and LMH aims to bring up to 1,000 back into use as part of a £205m investment over five years. The partnership will also create new employment and training opportunities for young apprentices in the area.

Find out more about Knights Park from Redrow Homes