The qualities of Greenwich Millennium Village have called on an individual marketing strategy and also make it a perfect focus for the first Built Environment event, to be held in London in October.
Desirable new South London homes for sale, some with river view. Ten minutes by rail from Canary Wharf. Twenty minutes from West End.

That is how an estate agent might describe the homes at London's Greenwich Millennium Village and so far it is good old fashioned location, location, location that has attracted some buyers. But to housebuilding professionals and government, GMV is a 1377-unit testbed for sustainable design, build efficiency, innovation and environmental principles. It has picked up an RIBA design award for its bold architecture, its washing machines are powered by environmentally-benign combined heat and power plants, and its taps use less water.

GMV's sales and marketing approach has had to tread a difficult line: promoting conventional benefits while educating and informing buyers to make choices that they do not have in most of the UK housing market, without making them feel like guinea pigs in yet another British experiment.

"We have had buyers who said that they believed in the concept of sustainability, but we have had others who don't care about that," says Chris Cain, senior development manager with Greenwich Millennium Village.

Whatever the reason, the developer almost sold out the first phase of 100 apartments within 48 hours of their release in March of last year. The second phase, comprising 200 houses, live/work units and apartments is now 80% sold too.

The scheme's sales and marketing line is hard sell on the aspirational, with showhomes designed by interior designers and architects and a sales centre that has been custom-designed as an architectural statement in its own right, by architect Johnson Naylor. But the sales staff are also trained to sell sustainability as well as bricks and mortar.

Inside, the sales centre, or visitor centre as GMV calls it, is more like a museum, packed with models, video screens and worthy information sheets. The information is not only for the benefit of buyers; because of GMV's high profile, its sales centre hosts visits from building industry professionals as well as the community. There is also a GMV website, which provides in-depth technical information.

In conveying unfamiliar technology to buyers, GMV's strategy is to highlight customer benefits. "You have to bring it down to something tangible," says Cain. So instead of bamboozling buyers with the technicalities of combined heat and power, GMV markets the benefits of a boiler-free home.

However the developer admits that some of the information it has provided may have been worthy but dull to buyers. "We've given a lot of written data that probably few people have read," says Cain. "We are now looking at getting information across in a more visual way."

GMV's marketing strategy will evolve with the scheme but with around five more years of selling ahead, Cain is confident the village will not be a victim of the sales fatigue that can afflict long-running sites. "The units are so different here," he says. "We have different views – of the river, the lake or the Dome. Each phase of development has its own style. The challenge here was to sell a completely untried environment. Now that we've got homes to show people, the hardest part of the marketing is over. We're building on that to show that GMV is more than a housing development and put across the ideas behind it."

Get the GMV story at Built Environment 2001

From 16-18 October you will be able to find out more about Greenwich Millennium Village’s innovations at the Built Environment 2001 show at London’s ExCel Centre in Docklands. GMV will feature prominently on Building Homes’ stand at this dynamic new show for the construction and built environment sector. Building Homes will be one of around 90 exhibitors at the event (see preview, page 59), organised by Building Homes’ publisher, The Builder Group, with CMP Information. A debate on Greenwich Millennium Village will also be part of a stimulating seminar programme. Scheduled for 2.30pm on 18 October, Richard Hodkinson, environmental consultant, architect Proctor Matthews and GMV project director Ross Hammond will talk through how they are delivering the architectural, construction, environmental and community objectives. Sustainability stays on the agenda the same day with the Peabody Trust’s Beddington Zero Energy Development in Sutton, Surrey, the first “carbon neutral” large-scale housing project. On 17 October Building magazine is hosting a conference on Winning work with housing associations. Speakers include Sue Ellenby, head of the National Housing Federation; Peter Hibbert, assistant chief executive of Network Housing Association; David Thompson, director of Birmingham City Council; Tim Holden, development director of Warden Housing Association; and Paul Willis, head of construction at Places for People.

Want to go to the show?

To find out more and register to attend the event, log on to www.builtenvironment2001.com or call the ticket hotline on 0870 429 4542. Project seminars are free of charge if you pre-register. The entry charge on the day is £10. To register email cjones@cmpinformation.com or call 0208 987 7619. Delegate charge for the Winning work with housing associations conference is £199 plus VAT. To book a place email dlucas@tt-events.com or call 0870 873 0050.