A new retirement apartment block that has been under construction for more than a year is nearly finished. 

Pegasus Wooburn Bales is going to be a three/four-storey block of 44 one, two and three-bed flats for older people on Wycombe Lane, close to The Green in Wooburn Green. 

The £9.5 million construction reached a major milestone last week, as builders and key people from Lifestory, the company behind the development, marked the 'topping out' - when the highest point of the new building is reached. 

The new building is supposedly inspired by the Victorian paper mills that used to work in the area and will feature 44 flats, communal gardens, shared spaces to relax in and a guest suite for family and friends to stay in when they visit. 

Prices for the apartments will start at £350,000 when they launch at some point in the summer. 

The topping out ceremony was attended by Steve Bangs, the chief executive fficer at Lifestory, and Ian Harrison, managing director for Lifestory’s south and south west region.

The team from Lifestory were also joined at the ceremony by Rob Speirs, director, and Colin Chiles, regional operations director from construction partners Stepnell, alongside some of the regional and onsite teams from both businesses.

Steve said: "Pegasus Wooburn Bales provides much needed, high quality later-living homes in the community, and I am delighted to join the team to mark this important milestone in its development.

"Wooburn Bales forms part of our wider ambition to create more high-quality homes for independent later living across the UK.

"Our passion is creating communities which enable and empower our customers to live their fullest lives, regardless of their age or life stage.

“We’re aware of the positive role that specialist later living developments can play in terms of local housing markets, given they help free-up existing homes as people downsize to more suitable accommodation.

"I look forward to seeing further progress made on this exciting development."

Plans for the development, which saw the demolition of the buildings already on the site, were given the go-ahead by Buckinghamshire Council in September 2020, despite some concerns from nearby residents. 

There were complaints the building would overshadow nearby homes and would cause highway safety problems on an already-busy partof the village.