Crest Nicholson is brushing up on urban life and trying to take a bite out of suburbia. The company is a residential development company with property interests primarily in central and southern England. The firm focuses on developing sustainable master-planned communities and mixed-use developments, along with urban regeneration and commercial property developments. Crest Nicholson builds new homes ranging from urban apartments and townhouses to traditional detached single-family houses. The firm has a land bank of more than 18,000 plots for future development. V�rde Partners, a US hedge fund, acquired control of Crest Nicholson in 2011.