Demolition has begun of three partially built steel framed £600,000 homes which county council owned This Land Ltd claim were defective.

“A number of issues relating to the steel frames of three homes were identified during construction,” says This Land.

“This Land has undertaken enquiries into those issues, including commissioning independent chartered surveys.

“As a result of these investigations, This Land has reached the decision that the steel frames do not meet its quality standards and it has therefore concluded that they will need to be rebuilt.”

The three houses were the anchor show homes of a small estate This Land is building at Cityglades, Cambridge,

The company says works have begun to remove the steel frames “and it is anticipated that this work will take 5 weeks. The works are being undertaken by a newly appointed contractor”.

David Lewis, acting chief executive of This Land, said: “Following the independent inspection, the three homes in the development did not meet the high standards of quality expected by This Land.

“We are therefore taking steps to replace the existing steel frames and build the homes to the quality This Land demands.”

The 14 luxury homes being built at Ditton Walk were subject to a dispute over health and safety.

Hadham Construction, who were awarded the contract for the steel framed homes, was been ordered off the site.

This Land Ltd issued a ‘notice of termination’ but Hadham has said it will be rigorously defending accusations of health and safety breaches and alleged defects in “design, manufacture and installation”.

Hadham Construction has always emphatically rejected the claims by This Land.

Hadham managing director David Collins told This Land Ltd: “It is apparent that you do not like what we build, you do not like the way they are built, and have no intention of paying for them once they are built.”

Mr Collins said the “alleged deficiencies” had been inspected by structural engineers and quality assessors who had confirmed their homes “once complete will meet the required standards”.

In a robust response to detailed allegations, he accused This Land of having sold and exchanged on homes at Ditton Walk for dates “that there is no possibility of being able to meet”.

He said This Land has clearly decided to blame this mistake on his company.

“The alleged health and safety breaches do not constitute grounds for individual suspension, and certainly not that of a company,” he said.

“Health and safety are extremely important and taken so by Hadham which has a very good health and safety record on every site the company has worked on, including high rise in central London.”

Hadham’s track record showed “not one accident of any sort, or near miss – a record of which we are proud”.