Japanese students take a lesson from Barratt

The Japanese Open University has been filming at Barratt's Celtic Village development at Worksop to show its students a glowing example of good building and design practice. A team led by Professor Mineki Hattori has been gathering material for a module on Mistake-Free Housing Design and chose Celtic Village to illustrate the best in current British methods.

The team filmed the interior and exterior of the three and four bedroom showhomes and the stunning Regency style, Kentmere Crescent, which is set in green open space at the centre of the development.

Prof. Hattori said: "We have been very impressed by what we have seen here. The incorporation of green open space and the classic lines of the crescent represent the best in modern housing design. The crescent makes a very powerful first impression.

"The showhomes too are excellent examples of good practice both inside and out."

The team's researcher, Ikuko White, said she had chosen to visit Celtic Village after searching the internet for an exemplary development which showed the best in contemporary housing design.

Celtic Village's sales negotiator, Wendy Slater said: "We have always known we have a world-class development here - but it is nice to have this recognised by visitors from Japan.

"We were delighted to be able to show them round to film the attractions of Celtic Village."

The film will be shown to Japanese students in the forthcoming academic year.