First look at Shrewsbury Gay Meadow plans

These the first images of how a major housing development on the site of Shrewsbury Town's former Gay Meadow football stadium will look when work is completed.

The 179-home Riverside Meadow development, being built by David Wilson Mercia, will see the first residents move in by March of next year.

And it is hoped the whole development will be completed by the end of 2015 or early 2016.

• See more pictures in our gallery to your right

Building work started at the Abbey Foregate site in January. The development will offer a selection of one and two bedroom apartments and three bedroom townhouses when finished.

The site next to the River Severn, which will be made up of 62 houses and 117 apartments, was cleared after the football club moved to its new home in Oteley Road in 2007.

Housing chiefs say the scheme is bringing 358 jobs to the town via tradespeople and sub-contractors being hired to work on the development.

Bosses from David Wilson Mercia today said inquiries were already gathering pace ahead of the official sales launch on March 24 from midday until 4pm. Angela Nurse, sales manager, said: "It is a lifestyle people will be buying into and because of the large mix of different properties we think there will be a broad spectrum of people coming forward.

"The inquiries we've had so far certainly suggest that, and we are seeing a real range of people both from the area and from further afield who are interested. I'm currently in correspondence with someone in New York for example."

Sales director David Wilson said: "There is no doubt that riverside locations are very attractive to people and the fact it's in the town centre means people can literally stroll over the bridge to go to the bars, bistros and shops. But it is also convenient for practical shopping too with a big supermarket within walking distance."

When proposals were first given the go-ahead one of the conditions of the planning permission was to raise the ground by up to 5ft above the highest recorded water level after continuous problems with flooding over the years.

Alistair Parsons, senior sales manager at the company, said: "One of the big features of the project is the two sunken gardens close to the river which are designed to be flooded if a particularly bad period of flooding occurs.

"The water will come into these sunken areas rather than put any of the housing at risk which has been raised significantly. Many of the homes already have small private gardens anyway but these sunken garden areas will be a great addition in terms of making the place attractive and also act as an extra community garden for what will be a brand a new community in Shrewsbury."

The foundations for the first batch of homes have already been laid. Elsewhere on site the ground is being raised to the required height and drainage installed.