The first buyers of homes of a new housing development being built on the site of the former St George’s Hospital in Hornchurch are set to move in this summer.

The site in Suttons Lane, which spans 29 acres, was sold for £40million in the biggest ever land sale by NHS Property Services in March 2018.

Bellway is building a total of 356 properties at St George’s Park and work is progressing well on the first phase of 194 homes, which includes 44 properties being provided as affordable housing.

The first plots were released for sale at the development last year and, due to high demand, just a select few homes within Phase 1 remain for sale.

Sales director for Bellway London, Emma Hamlett, said: “We are on schedule for the first completions to take place this summer.

“The development is being built on a landmark site, previously home to St George’s Hospital and with strong links to RAF Hornchurch.

“To help retain the rich history of the site, we are converting some of the old hospital buildings as part of the St George’s Park development.”

St George’s Park will consist of a selection of one and two-bedroom apartments, and two, three, four and five-bedroom houses.

There’s currently a choice of two-bedroom apartments and three and five-bedroom houses available to reserve.

There are two show homes available for visitors to view, the four-bedroom Walnut and two-bedroom Olive house types.

“The size of the development means that, as well as providing much-needed new homes, there is also plenty of opportunity to incorporate large green areas and public open space, with seven separate play areas throughout the development,” said Ms Hamlett.

“We are looking forward to welcoming the first residents into their new homes here and would encourage anyone hoping to join this new community to come along and find out more while we still have homes available within the first phase of development.”

Planning permission to redevelop the derelict site, which had been empty since the hospital closed in 2012, was granted in 2018. Schools in Hornchurch are set to benefit from more than £1.5million financial contributions as part of the planning agreement.