MOVE over Alderley Edge — this is the first look at the stunning bespoke £1 million kit houses all set to become the new footballers’ playground.

Former Premier League star Garry Flitcroft is the man behind the ambitious scheme on the site of the former Victoria Mill in the moorland village of Chapeltown.

And he is hoping to attract the current crop of wellheeled football stars to the new development.

Seven plots of land have now gone on the market for the first time, with prices starting at £350,000.

The plots each have planning permission for a Huf Haus, a buyer-designed kit house developed in Germany which are ready within nine months of purchasing the land.

Between snapping up the plot and moving in, buyers are involved in every step of the design process, at the Huf Haus showhome in Surrey and then in Germany, and are able to decide on every specification including number of bedrooms, the layout of the property and the individual fixtures and fittings.

The former Manchester City and Blackburn Rovers star, who now manages nonleague side Chorley FC and is a partner in Bromley Cross-based William Thomas Estate Agents, has come a long way since his first venture into the property market, as a young professional at Maine Road.

He said: “It is something that I have always been interested in but this is easily the biggest thing I have done since buying a small terrace house when I first signed for Manchester City.

“My dad is a builder and he did all the work on the houses I bought at auctions and then I wanted to set up an estate agents — which I did with William Thomas — and that has been doing great so it is an exciting time.

“I first saw a picture of the homes in a magazine and I liked the look of them and flew down to see the showhome which was just fantastic.

“Huf Haus have never done a development like this so I am pleased that it is going to be in the North West and I have to thank Blackburn with Darwen Council because they were a different class.”

Permission was granted in 2004 to convert the 150-yearold mill into 14 apartments, and a structural survey was carried out after amendments to the plan were approved in 2008. But earlier this year permission was given for the mill to be demolished.

Despite the extensive use of glazing in the design of the homes, the properties are eco-friendly and energy efficient, which means they meet future government targets when it comes to sustainable housing.

With the Huf Haus costing anything upwards of £500,000, on top of the cost of the land, the exclusive estate is sure to be popular with footballers, celebrities or those with a large disposable income—a fact not lost on Mr Flitcroft.

He said: “I have dropped a few brochures off with the players at Bolton Wanderers and at Blackburn Rovers and I’ll be dropping some off at Manchester City as well.

“It is a very exclusive development and once you are inside one it is even more spectacular.”

Mr Flitcroft’s business partner Warren Haworth, managing director of WIlliam Thomas Estate Agents, said: “This is something quite unique for the UK.

“Huf Haus have done oneoff builds before and a few townhouses in London but not a complete development like this.

“The properties have only been on the market for a couple of weeks but we have had a lot of interest, not only locally but from further afield as well.”

The first Huf Haus was built in the UK in 1997 but the concept really shot into the public eye in 2004 when it was championed on Channel 4’s Grand Designs programme.

Since then there has been more than 150 homes build across the country, mainly in the south of England.