Piling in and out of a tight spot

摘要

A housing estate built over a derelict mine presented a challenge for the developer, Annington Properties The word 'subsidence' is enough to bring any householder out in a cold sweat and send mortgage lenders scurrying back to the relative safety of the sub-prime market. So what do you have to do to sell an estate of houses built on made ground above old mine workings? The houses in question occupy a quiet cul-de-sac in the Devon village of Horrabridge, on the southern fringes of Dartmoor. Built in the early 1960s as married quarters for the MoD, the houses were recently acquired by private landlord Annington Properties, which is refurbishing them for sale to private buyers.