Wilson Bowden subsidiary David Wilson Homes has acquired Frenchay Developments for £24m.
Frenchay is a special-purpose vehicle set up by several families who owned a 25-acre site next to the M4 corridor to the east of Bristol.

The total value of the land acquired is £32m but £8m has been taken off as Wilson Bowden has to shoulder tax liabilities.

The purchase is part of Wilson Bowden’s land acquisition policy for this year.

Chief executive of Wilson Bowden Ian Robertson said: “This is a landbank acquisition as far as we are concerned. The site has already got outline planning permission and we would expect to get about 500 units from the site.”

This is the second time this year that Wilson Bowden has bought a company for its landbank. In April it bought Henry Boot’s housebuilding arm for £47.8m.

Henry Boot Homes came with a landbank of 1792 plots, most with planning permission. In total, the company intends to spend £400m on land this year.