Saddlers Chase, Doncaster

Overview

Saddlers Chase is a flagship Miller Homes development on a prominent 17-acre site between the established Rose Hill estate and Doncaster Racecourse. The scheme delivers 121 homes — a mix of 3, 4, and 5-bedroom family houses alongside affordable housing — with over a third of the site given over to green open space.

Bromley RDG was appointed to deliver the complete groundworks and civil engineering package across the full development.

Client Details

Client: Miller Homes
Location: Rose Hill Rise, Bessacarr, Doncaster, DN4 5LE
Duration: 18 months (September 2024 – present)
Development: 121 new homes across a 17-acre site
Services: Earthworks, Roads & Sewers, Groundworks

Key Outcomes

80 of 121 plots completed
All site infrastructure delivered to adoptable standards
Attenuation storm tanks installed and operational
Community relationships actively managed and maintained throughout
Project tracking to 18-month programme
NHBC Pride in the Job award submission

The Challenge

Saddlers Chase followed one of Doncaster’s most contested planning battles in recent memory. The original application was refused by the council’s planning committee, only for a resubmitted scheme to be approved months later in a decision that drew significant public opposition. More than 1,200 residents signed petitions against the development, over 100 formal objections were lodged, and the case attracted sustained regional media coverage.

That level of community feeling didn’t subside once construction began. From day one, every vehicle movement, every working hour, and every aspect of site activity was closely monitored by local residents’ groups and neighbouring homeowners. Construction Method Statement compliance was scrutinised constantly, with any perceived breach reported to the council and the press. The margin for error was effectively zero — not just in build quality, but in conduct, communication, and community relations.

Miller Homes holds a 5-star HBF customer satisfaction rating, achieved 13 times in 14 years, and consistently ranks among the UK’s top housebuilders for NHBC Pride in the Job awards. Their Supply Chain Code of Conduct sets exacting expectations around quality, health and safety, environmental responsibility, and performance. Any subcontractor on a Miller Homes site needs to hit those benchmarks every day.

The Approach

We understood from the outset that this project would be won or lost on two fronts: technical delivery and community management.

On the community side, we invested significant time in building relationships with local residents from the very start. Rather than treating their concerns as an obstacle, we engaged directly and consistently, maintaining open lines of communication, responding to feedback quickly, and ensuring our operations stuck rigidly to the agreed Construction Method Statement. That meant controlling vehicle movements through careful cut-and-fill planning to minimise off-site disposal, keeping to agreed working hours without exception, and making ourselves available when residents had questions or complaints.

It took consistent effort from our site teams, but through sustained, genuine engagement we helped turn what could have been a deeply adversarial relationship into one of cooperation and mutual respect. The people living next to this development had legitimate concerns. They deserved to see those concerns taken seriously, and they did.

Services Delivered

Earthworks — Bulk earthworks across the full site, preparing the ground for all infrastructure and plot construction. Cut-and-fill operations were managed to minimise off-site disposal and vehicle movements, a critical consideration given the sensitivity of the surrounding community.

Roads & Sewers — Complete roads and sewers infrastructure including carriageway and footpath construction, deep drainage systems, attenuation storm tanks for surface water management, and utilities ducting, all built to adoptable standards.

Groundworks — Plot-level groundworks across all 121 homes, including foundations, below-ground drainage, floor slabs, and ground preparation. 80 plots completed to date with the remaining 41 progressing to programme.

The Results

Eighteen months in, 80 of 121 plots are complete, all primary infrastructure is delivered and operational, and the project is running to programme.

The real measure of success here goes beyond programme and plot counts. Working alongside Miller Homes, we helped transform a development that had every ingredient for a protracted, adversarial construction phase into one delivered with genuine community cooperation. The residents who had campaigned so passionately against the development were brought onside through consistent, respectful engagement.

The quality of workmanship has been recognised at the highest level. The project is being put forward for an NHBC Pride in the Job award, widely regarded as the most prestigious quality recognition in UK housebuilding, with only the top 5% of sites nationally receiving the honour. For a site that has faced this level of scrutiny, that recognition speaks for itself.