DEVELOPERS of a major housing estate will have to make changes after a block of properties were built the wrong way round.

Persimmon Homes is building the new homes on the former Cowdray Centre site after winning planning permission from Colchester Council for 262 homes in 2019.

It will see the former business park transformed into a housing estate consisting of a mixture of one, two and three-bedroom apartments and houses.

However, it has now emerged a block of homes has been built the wrong way round.

As a result, Persimmon Homes will have to change the position of windows, doors, balconies and internal fittings so they will face the right way and match the approved plans.

Work has already been undertaken to re-orientate the internal designs in order to fit in with the new window locations.

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A spokesman for Persimmon Homes confirmed the alterations had been made.

They said: “We have made some limited alterations to the position of some windows during the early stages of construction, in line with our planning consent.”

The site has waited years to be developed after a number of units were ravaged by fire in 2006.

In 2019, Persimmon Homes had its arm twisted to make 20 per cent of the properties affordable, despite declaring it would not be financially viable earlier that year.

Colchester councillor Martin Goss has now been left scratching his head at the errors made in the development.

He said: “I have now had it confirmed the developers have indeed built one of the blocks round the wrong way.

“If a builder makes a mistake, they have to bear the consequences of that.

"To build something completely the wrong way is a major cock-up. How can a national developer make such a major mistake?

“Whatever they are doing to rectify it better match the plans spot on.

“It just beggars belief, how on earth can a developer build a set of flats the wrong way? It’s mystifying.

“It’s gone through a long process and a number of iterations to get where it is today but obviously they now need to build it to the agreed plan.”