The Prince of Wales is unlikely to need a new home after his wedding. But he’s hoping that other newlyweds will head for Upton — a new town of more than 1,000 homes on a 106-acre site on the southwest edge of Northampton.

The Prince’s Foundation, his regeneration body advising on the design and management of high-density new developments, has been a key backer of Upton. The first batch of properties, Upton One — 211 houses and flats built by Paul Newman New Homes, an Irish firm — is being built adhering to a rigorous 50-page design code. Partly written by the foundation, it embodies much of the prince’s housing philosophy, with environment- friendly and architectural-led demands to the fore.

The majority of materials have to be sourced locally, low energy-consumption boilers and lightbulbs must be used, high-quality sheep’s wool insulates the lofts, photovoltaic roof tiles will be standard, while a “sustainable urban drainage system” is built into the foundations to redirect rain percolating through the ground.

Like Charles’s better-known model town, Poundbury in Dorset, Upton is set to be “sustainable” — offices, schools and shops are within walking distance to minimise car use. Walls are built using local stone. When the homes are finished — the first is scheduled for June — most owners’ cars will be tucked behind the terraces in courtyards, along with unsightly urban features such as utility boxes, cables and clothes lines.

But it is at the front of the houses where the difference between this development and so many others shows. Although most properties will be terraced, of above-average height and set in narrow streets, there the similarity will end.

Each individual street in Upton One has a different design — one is Tudor, one Georgian, some exploit variations of Arts and Crafts, while others use local stone to create a near-Cotswold look.

“Some people call this pastiche, saying it borrows from different designs,” says Newman. “Maybe it does but I think it looks like a real area. Each streetscape is different, each view of buildings looks at different heights and different materials. It’s like Poundbury and not just like the boxes the big builders put up around here.”

As at Poundbury, buyers at Upton will have to join a management committee deciding on the level of services provided across the site and pay a compulsory service charge to fund them.

But whereas these features have in the past been used in high-priced properties, Upton sits in one of England’s less wealthy housing areas.

“We have to be sensitive to what the locals can pay for any other property in and around Northampton, so this is not exactly a money-maker for us,” says Newman.

Prices for the smallest flat in Upton One will be a sub-stamp duty £119,950, rising to £575,000 for the largest six-bedroom house. In the first batch of homes now going on sale, a two-bed flat will be £169,950 and a four-bed end-mews home will cost £299,950.

The split between houses and flats will be 50:50 and about 20% of all homes will be affordable, rented out by housing associations or put into shared-ownership schemes. Newman says these will be dotted around the site, instead of being in “a cheap ghetto in a corner of the development”.

Upton’s later phases will be built by other developers, mostly big corporates, but they will have to meet design codes from the foundation and English Partnerships (EP), a government quango that finds land for regeneration. They will not replicate Upton One but will follow distinctive designs, with at least one part of the site given over to homes of “starkly contemporary architecture”.

What they will have in common will be high density (35 houses per hectare on average, instead of the industry standard of 22), plus use of the site’s parks, play areas and public open spaces.

Upton One will also have visits from the prince — who promises to call regularly until it is completed in 2007.

Upton One, 01604 752 180, www.paulnewmanhomes.co.uk

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