Flames could be seen for miles around as fire crews rushed to Persimmon Homes’ Spateston site in Johnstone after local residents raised the alarm.

The fire broke out at around 7pm and tore through a section of the Scholars Green site before three fire engines and 15 firefighters managed to extinguish it after three hours.

Persimmon Homes began work on the £13m housing scheme of around 144 homes at the former school site at the start of the year.

Just last week a larger timber frame housing site being built by Keepmoat in Manchester was also destroyed by a fire, which quickly spread through the high rise structure.

The fire tore through the timber structure on Hyde Road, Gorton effectively destroying the building. Greater Manchester Police are treating this fire as suspected arson.

These latest fires will raise alarm again about the vulnerability of timber frame homes to catastrophic loss during construction.

Several years ago the timber frame industry introduced a set of measures to head off criticism after another spate of fires raised concern and premiums in the insurance industry.

Since then timber frame has been steadily gaining in popularity with an increasing number of developers adopting the technique as a fast building system for homes.