Section: Building & Regeneration

Scheme Update

England

A disused car showroom in Leyton has made way for a development of new affordable homes for local people. The former Ford forecourt and showroom had stood empty for several months but were acquired by ASRA Greater London Housing Association in May last year. Now the first phase of the £3.5 million development of 55 apartments is complete, and a show home is open.

The majority of the new homes are available for shared ownership, allowing people the opportunity to gain a foothold on the property ladder by buying a minimum 40% share in their home, and renting the remainder. The shared ownership homes offer a fitted kitchen with appliances, fitted carpets, audio and video entry phone system, smoke detectors, gas central heating, double glazed windows, and optional parking bay.

The second phase of eight one-bedroom apartments and eleven two-bedroom apartments will be available in the autumn.
Two housing association consortia have been chosen to build and manage the first 1,000 homes of a major development in the heart of London. Southwark Council's selection marks the start of the first phase of a 10-year Elephant and Castle regeneration scheme. Homes will be built on 15 different sites over the next four years with social housing making up 70% of the schemes.

Urban Choice, comprising Family Housing Association and Affinity Housing Group, and a consortium of London and Quadrant, Wandle Housing Association and Guiness Trust have been selected after a one-year procurement exercise.

Elephant and Castle has been chosen by the London Mayor to become an Energy Action Area, along with three other London locations. The new housing at Elephant and Castle will need to achieve low-carbon communities.
Dominion Housing Group appointed Higgins Construction as the lead contractor on a £14.2 million development in Ealing. The scheme will see more than 100 new homes built on the site of an eight-storey office block, which will be demolished to make way for the mixed-tenure scheme.
Chester & District Housing Trust signed a £3.7 million contract with Lovell to redevelop the Treborth Road area of Chester. With additional funding from the Housing Corporation, the project will eventually see the development of 200 new homes for rent and sale.
Work started on a major development project that will provide affordable housing to key workers and people priced out of the housing market in Cambridge. Places for People and BPHA (Bedfordshire Pilgrims Housing Association) are building 282 affordable homes on Arbury Park, in north Cambridge over the next three years.

A total of 126 homes will be built on a shared ownership basis and 156 homes for affordable rent. Of the shared ownership, 20% of the properties will be made available to key workers. In addition, Arbury Park is designed to an EcoHomes very good level, which means that homes are constructed from environmentally friendly materials and are energy efficient.

The development is part of a ten year project that will see 900 homes built on the site to the north of Cambridge - a high percentage of which will be affordable. In addition, new community facilities, a primary school and employment opportunities will be provided.

Funding for the Arbury Park development has come from Places for People alongside a £5.3 million grant from the Housing Corporation.
Newlon Housing Trust signed a £24.5 million contract for Kier London to build a mixed-use development in Stepney. The scheme includes 211 homes for rent, shared ownership and sale on the site of former glassworks.
Midas Homes has exchanged contracts with English Partnerships to work as its preferred development partner on a major regeneration scheme that will bring new homes, jobs and increased prosperity to Camborne in Cornwall. Midas Homes will redevelop the former CompAir Holman site in the Dolcoath area of town, which will see a mixed-use neighbourhood developed that will provide 390 homes. Of these, 25% will be affordable for rent or shared ownership and a further 15% reserved for first-time buyers.
Lovell started work on a £8.1 million housing scheme at the Raffles estate in Carlisle. It is building 71 new three- and four-bedroom houses for open market sale as part of a project developed in partnership with the local community, Carlisle City Council and Carlisle Housing Association.

This marks the start of the second phase of development by Lovell at the estate. It recently completed the 92-home first phase of a regeneration housing programme, which has attracted strong interest from homebuyers with all first phase homes now sold. Planning permission has been secured for a further 343 homes at Raffles - the 71 new homes will be the first of these to be built.
Equity Housing Group signed a £10 million agreement with Bramall Construction to demolish shops and in their place develop 53 homes and a new housing office for Stockport Homes. The scheme also includes some new shops.

Scotland

Dalmarnock, in the east end of Glasgow was confirmed as the site of the Athletes' Village for the 2014 Commonwealth Games - should Scotland's bid be successful. In one of the biggest urban renewal projects in a generation, over 1,000 new homes will be built on the village site. Once the Games are over, they will be made available for private sale and social housing.

The east end of Glasgow is part of the ambitious Clyde Gateway development. A twenty-year, multi-billion pound project, it will see a huge part of the Clyde corridor opened up for housing and economic activity. More than 10,000 new homes will be built and contaminated land will be restored. The Clyde Gateway area stretches from Glasgow Green in the west to Cambuslang in the east and from London Road in the north to Toryglen/Shawfield in the south.

Hospital Sites Programme Update

Six developers made the shortlist for the redevelopment of a former hospital site near West Malling in Kent. English Partnerships acquired the 94 ha site last year with the aim of creating a sustainable neighbourhood, comprising a mix of high-quality homes and community facilities. It forms part of the Agency's Hospital Sites Programme, which aims to bring 96 redundant hospital sites across the country back into productive use.

The following successfully met English Partnerships' evaluation criteria:
- Berkeley Homes (South East London) Ltd.
- Countryside Properties (UK) Ltd.
- Crest Nicholson (South East) Ltd.
- George Wimpey (UK) Ltd.
- Grange Village Partnership
- Taylor Woodrow Developments Ltd.
Each developer will be invited to prepare in-depth proposals for the site in October, with a final selection to be made the following month. The shortlisted developers will also be expected to demonstrate a commitment to English Partnerships' First-Time Buyers' Initiative, which gives more people the opportunity to become homeowners by increasing the supply of affordable housing for sale.

In total, over 700 new homes will be built on the Leybourne Grange hospital site with approximately 100 allocated to first-time buyers.
A former cottage hospital in Ledbury, Herefordshire, will become a workspace hub for local, young entrepreneurs, as well as providing separately available high quality affordable living apartments, through a recently launched tender process to develop the scheme. The site, which is likely to be of particular interest to affordable housing providers, is being offered to the market by English Partnerships with partners Ledbury & Area Development Trust and Advantage West Midlands.

The partners have entered into a collaborative agreement to fund the £1million public-private sector regeneration programme. The site will be converted into six affordable, shared equity apartments and 160 sqm of managed commercial workspace for local, young entrepreneurs working in the creative industries. The aim of the scheme is to create a cluster of companies focusing on industries such as IT, photography and web-based initiatives.

The former hospital, which has not been in active use for four years, will be the first NHS site to be developed in the West Midlands under the Hospital Sites Programme and the seventh nationally.

Housing Monthly Diary

Reporting on August 2006

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