Work is about to start on the first Design for Manufacture competition sites - the challenge to construct a good quality home for £60,000. This follows planning approval and the signing of legal agreements for two competition sites.
The agreements mean that since the competition was launched by the Deputy Prime Minister last April, more than 300 homes have been designed and received planning permission, with development work now starting on site. Almost 700 homes will also be created across another eight competition sites.
Construction work will soon begin on sites at Allerton Bywater (near Leeds and Upton) and Northampton by Barratt Developments Plc. Across these two sites, 96 homes will be built for a construction cost of £60,000. The remainder will be a mix of smaller and larger homes constructed with similar cost efficiencies.
A minimum of 30% of homes on each competition site will be built to a construction cost of £60,000. Each of the developments will create mixed-tenure communities, including homes for sale, rent, social housing and for first time buyers under a shared equity scheme.
The home designs are innovative with features such as high energy efficiency and flexible layouts.
Planning applications are currently being submitted for the remaining competition sites. It is anticipated that the use of detailed development briefs will play a key role in helping these applications move swiftly through the planning system. English Partnerships has been working closely with the relevant local councils to develop briefs designed to help developers know what is acceptable to local planning authorities.
German builders are heading for Britain in search of work in a reverse of the 1980s television series Aud Wiedersehen Pet. The construction industry is stagnating in Germany but 30,000 new homes a year are planned in the UK over the next 20 years. London's 2012 Olympic Games is another attraction for German builders.
Bettina Hansmeier, a spokeswoman for a lobby representing craftsmen in the industrial state of North Rhine-Westphalia, said websites advising German builders how to "attack" the British market have been launched.
Ms Hansmeier said: "We start with: how can I attack the market, how do I get a contract? There are hurdles, such as customs, taxes, registration, and even cultural barriers."
Last September the German Master Craftsmen group gathered 10 trade associations together to "facilitate entry into the British construction market and promote German attributes, such as the high quality of workmanship".
At the end of this month, the German Master Craftsmen will set up an exhibit at the trade fair Interbuild in Birmingham. Ms Hansmeier said bilingual flyers have been printed and English lessons are being offered to builders by the craftsmen group. She added: "German craftsmen have a very, very sound level of training.
"We have the Meistertitel, or master certificate, a designation which doesn't even exist in England. Then there are German qualities, such as punctuality, reliability, and exactness, which are also vital. The Brits know that we can be counted on."
Source: www.24dash.com
The LHA-ASRA Group was selected by Nottingham City Council and local residents to regenerate the Stonebridge Park Estate, which is ten minutes walk from the City centre. The £30 million proposals, developed as part of the design solution for Stonebridge Park, will make the area more attractive and inviting to the wider community, through a combination of demolition, refurbishment and environmental changes such as the re-modelling of open spaces.
The regeneration scheme will create a sustainable, modern, mixed tenure, mixed income neighbourhood where people have the opportunity to both get onto and then move up the property ladder should they wish. The provision of substantial numbers of affordable housing will also be a key feature.
Design features incorporated into the plan will improve the image of the area and increase its appeal both to existing tenants and residents, and to those currently living outside the area. The Stonebridge Park Estate, which consists of 470 houses and flats, was built in line with 'Radburn' planning principles in the early 1970s. In the 'Radburn' design, houses are inverted with car access via back gardens and fronts face on to communal space. This type of housing model was created in the United States in 1929 and has been used for numerous estates throughout the UK. However it has been proved not to be a successful model.
Local consultation processes are focusing on existing tenants and residents, businesses and other organisations and agencies that have a connection with the Stonebridge estate. The final scheme will be worked up with all partners through a series of design workshops and meetings.
In addition to the physical transformation of the area, LHA-ASRA intends to create employment and training opportunities for people currently living within Stonebridge Park and just outside.
Cash spent on regeneration will be recycled within the area wherever possible with goods and services sourced locally. Major partners Nottingham City Council, LHA-ASRA and Derby architects Lathams will aim to finalise plans by June 2006 after a series of local consultations. Final plans should go before the Council's Executive Board in July
LHA-ASRA has completed a number of flagship regeneration schemes recently in partnership with local authorities, including a 205 home project in Braunstone, Leicester costing over £10 million, and an £8 million regeneration scheme in Northampton involving the transformation of two landmark tower blocks.
The £540 million LHA-ASRA Group was founded by LHA and ASRA Greater London HA and launched in January 2006.
Wakefield and District Housing was poised to build its first new homes for tenants and first time buyers. A total of 98 homes will be built mainly for rent but some will also be for first time buyers, through the Housing Corporation's Homebuy initiative.
The Association's funding follows a successful bid, in conjunction with the Synergy Partnership, for £5.5 million to the Housing Corporation's National Affordable Housing Programme. The new homes will be built in the Whitwood area of Castleford, Agbrigg and Ferrybridge.
Planning is still at an early stage, and the Association will be consulting local communities about the development.
The new homes will be completed and available to local people by March 2009.
A former night club is due to be transformed into a new residential development to provide much-needed housing in Egremont. Two Castles Housing Association wants to develop 10 flats on the site of the Old Hall - once a popular night spot known throughout West Cumbria.
Copeland planning officers have welcomed the proposal for the Grade II listed, three-storey building. They say it will greatly enhance Main Street, as well as provide badly-needed new homes.
Two Castles, which provides social housing, is seeking planning permission to build two two-bedroom flats on each of the ground and first floors, one three-bedroom flat on the second floor, and one two-bedroom unit in a detached barn at the back of the property.
It also wants to demolish the existing large single storey extension at the back of the building and replace it with a two-storey, traditional-styled building with four two-bedroom flats.
Source: www.24dash.com
Dominion Housing Group is building its first ever development in Milton Keynes, as part of the planned regeneration of Bletchley Town Centre. The Group will be transforming an empty office block - Stephenson House - into an attractive retail and residential scheme.
Having been vacant for the past three years, the "gateway" building is set to engender further interest in the larger regeneration of the town. The 30-year-old building is being refurbished to provide 110 one and two-bedroom apartments (33 affordable, 77 for private sale), a brand new shopping mall, and around 6,620 square foot of commercially let retail space on the ground floor.
The properties will be finished to a high standard, with wooden flooring in the majority of living areas, shaker style contemporary kitchens, large internal living and a 72-space car park. Dominion now works across London and southern England, including in Cambridge, Bristol, Essex, Kent, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Surrey, Sussex and the Thames Valley region.
The group is developing Stephenson House - due for completion in 2007 - in partnership with Remitone Properties and Milton Keynes Council.
Oxford Citizens Housing Association chose Lovell for a £3.7 million scheme in Oxford, which will create 41 new homes for rent and shared ownership. The new housing will be built using Fusion Building Systems' light steel frame technology.
Work has just started on the development in Fettiplace Road in Barton, East Oxford, on land made available by Oxford City Council. The new homes will be built on land formerly occupied by a disused block of sheltered flats and residential garage accommodation.
The development - which is scheduled to take 58 weeks - will see the creation of 18 one-bedroom and two-bedroom flats, and 23 two-bedroom, three-bedroom, four-bedroom, and five-bedroom houses. The homes will be offered for affordable rent and for shared ownership through Oxford Citizens Housing Association.
Hanover Housing Association appointed Jackson Construction as lead contractor for its £5.2 million development of 52 extra care units in Dagenham, London. The scheme is due to complete in June 2007.
