Barratt David Wilson Homes Cambridgeshire said 36 houses on the Darwin Green site near Cambridge did meet its ‘usual high standards’ following an inspection.
The company’s move has been described as ‘absolutely shocking’, by local Cambridge City councillors who want to know if other nearby homes are affected.
A number of the properties targeted for demolition have already been sold though none of them are yet occupied, the developer said. Some of them are midway through construction.
Councillor Cheney Payne said she ‘couldn’t quite believe it’ when the council was told about the issue last week.
She is now calling for an independent review.
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“It’s certainly been quite concerning for the residents who are living in nearby properties, built by the same developer, in terms of what it means for their homes,” she said.
“I’ve had residents in touch from both within Darwin Green asking questions about what’s happening and what it means for their own households, and also from the surrounding area, where I would imagine demolishing a lot of houses is going to cause an awful lot of noise, disruption and dust. It’s worrying to think about.
“I think there needs to be an independent review of how it’s got to this situation.
“We need to look for an independent body to review what’s happened.
“For the developers to be reviewing their own work and deciding on the next steps – they’re not really on a stable platform to do so.
“The buildings are already in place and pretty much completed. To suddenly find they’re not fit to be occupied and need to be demolished is absolutely shocking.”
The development, which is 1.6 miles north west of Cambridge city centre, has approval for up to 1,593 homes as well as a primary school, supermarket and library.
Planning permission is also in place for a central park, with 15 acres of open space and sports facilities.
The development is in phase two of its building schedule, with two, three, four and five-bedroom homes selling for between £575,995 and £850,995.
A spokesman for Barratt David Wilson Homes Cambridgeshire said: “As a five-star house builder we have an extensive quality assurance process and during inspections we found that a small number of unoccupied properties at our Darwin Green development did not meet our usual high standards.
“Unfortunately, the most effective course of action at this stage is to demolish the properties and rebuild them.
“We have apologised to the customers affected and understand their frustrations, but we are doing all that we can to lessen the impact of this for them.
“The most important thing is that the homes we build for our customers are of the highest quality possible and this means spotting mistakes and putting them right, which is what we are doing here.”
Cambridge city council said it was made aware of the problems last week but has yet to receive an application for the demolition work.
The spokesperson said: “Officers will continue to work with the local community and site developer to ensure any impacts of the demolition works are appropriately controlled.”
