The site at Wintringham Park, St Neots, Cambridgeshire, has been allocated but not yet consented for the development, which will also include 63,500 sq m of employment space, a district centre and two primary schools.

Urban&Civic’s one-third partnership stake was purchased from two Nuffield charitable trusts: Nuffield Dominions Trust and the Nuffield Oxford Hospitals Fund.

The trusts are involved in supporting medical research and teaching at the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust and Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust.

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Urban&Civic has also been appointed as master developer of the scheme as well as being responsible for the sale of fully serviced land parcels.

Nigel Hugill, chief executive of Urban&Civic, said: "The real thrill for us is in the prospect of taking our master developer model and deploying the Nuffield experience of creating healthier lifestyles to show just what well-planned, new, large-scale projects can achieve. 

“We are aiming for accelerated housing delivery in which improved wellbeing is made a priority from the outset." 

The £13.3m purchase consideration will be phased over the next four years with provision for early payments to fund the trusts' share of accelerated infrastructure investment