England
The former Graylingwell hospital site in Chichester is set to become one of the country's most environmentally friendly communities as plans are announced to create a net zero carbon development. Site owner, English Partnerships, named Galliford Try and Affinity Sutton as joint preferred developers.
The 36ha site could provide up to 800 homes, of which 40% will be affordable, including both social rented and shared ownership. Plans for the site also include commercial and community facilities, including a theatre, artists' studio, gallery, offices and a restaurant.
Bristol City Council granted Knightstone Housing Association planning permission on a major residential and business use site at Backfields in St Paul's, Bristol.
Building works will commence later this year and when finished, the development will provide 69 new homes with a mixture for social rent, market sale and new build Homebuy. It also includes eight starter business units.
The Housing Corporation identified this as a priority scheme within the South West and has guaranteed funding of £2.4 million.
Apollo Group, one of the largest providers of property services in the south of England, announced that it has won three Decent Homes Programme contracts worth more than £130 million in total.
As part of Barking and Dagenham's four-year Decent Homes Programme, Apollo has been appointed to carry out the internal and external refurbishment of 8,000 properties. The work has a value of £60 million.
Homes for Haringey have appointed Apollo to carry out £65 million worth of work to ensure homes in the South Tottenham area of London are Decent Homes compliant. The works include internal and external refurbishment of homes.
The third contract, worth £6 million, includes internal works packages on the refurbishment of homes in Oxfordshire, Kent, Essex and Somerset for Shaftesbury Housing Group.
Elkin Court, a new extra care scheme being built in Partington, Trafford, has been officially topped out. The ceremony is the traditional manner in which the workers are thanked for their efforts, and good luck is bestowed on the rest of the construction and the future residents.
Developed through a partnership between Housing 21 and Trafford Council, with a £2.2 million Social Housing Grant from the Housing Corporation, Elkin Court is located on a 1.23 acre site that was formerly occupied by a local authority residential care home.
It will provide a total of 40 high quality one and two bedroom apartments for older people. 24-hour care will be provided at the scheme to meet residents' changing needs over time, offering local older people more housing choice and the chance to remain independent for longer.
A ground-breaking housing scheme is to help people priced out of the housing market in rural Worcestershire stay put. Nexus Housing received the keys to 15 new properties built by Lovell in Belbroughton, near Bromsgrove.
The £2 million project is providing two and three-bedroom houses, which will be offered only to people with strong ties to Belbroughton, but who could not afford to live there under normal circumstances.
The properties are the first built under Bromsgrove District Council's Planning Rural Exceptions Policy, which allows new, affordable homes to be created in rural areas where developments would not normally be allowed.
Two houses are for shared ownership, six are for rent and the remaining seven are being sold outright - but for just 56% of the market value. Anyone wishing to buy them must meet strict criteria on their links to the area, their housing need and their income. A special covenant placed on the properties means they can only ever be sold on at this percentage of their market value, ensuring they remain affordable homes for future generations.
The site includes a pedestrian footpath to link the new homes with an existing footpath so that the 'walking bus' can use it to go to the primary school. The scheme, in conjunction with Bromsgrove District Council and Belbroughton Parish Council, has been backed with a £442,500 Social Housing Grant from the Housing Corporation.
Derwent Living celebrated the completion of its 10,000th property - in its home town of Derby. Guests will congregate at City Point and will be able to see the 10,000th property in Derwent Living management - an apartment recently let by the Association.
Built by Barratt, Derwent Living has a total of 54 homes at City Point - 43 for affordable rent, and 11 apartments to part-buy, part-rent through its Easy Living brand.
Lovell was chosen to build a state-of-the-art £2.65 million YMCA facility in Norwich. The new development will create a modern 34-bedroom hostel for the YMCA. Lovell is building the development for Flagship Housing Group, which has secured funding for the project from the Housing Corporation.
The hostel's location is part of the last remaining section of the City's former bus station site to be redeveloped. The new building, which is set for completion in August 2008, will partially replace an existing YMCA hostel in the area.
Scotland
Work was underway on a development to bring 28 much-needed new affordable homes to the Isle of Skye.
Communities Scotland has invested over £3.2 million in the project by Lochalsh and Skye Housing Association. The homes are the third phase of house building work at the former Campbell's Farm site.Sixteen of the homes will be available for affordable rent with the remaining 12 for sale through the Scottish government's successful Homestake shared-equity programme.
Galloway is receiving a £7.8 million housing boost, with 64 new affordable homes for rent to be built in New Galloway and Kirkcowan, with support from Communities Scotland.
In Newton Stewart, Loreburn Housing Association will create 30 new homes for rent, including a number of houses built specifically for people with special needs.
The Association is also creating 14 homes for rent in Kirkcowan.
In New Galloway, Loreburn is developing 20 homes for rent designed to address local demand.
Communities Scotland is providing £5.4 million in grant funding for the developments as part of the Scottish Government's commitment to develop new homes in rural areas of Scotland.
Work is set to get underway on a development to bring eight much-needed new affordable homes to Orkney. Communities Scotland has invested over half a million pounds in the project by Orkney Housing Association.
The homes will be built in Kirkwall and will be available for sale through shared ownership, which gives people on lower incomes the chance to enter the property market.
Work was set to get underway on a development to bring 17 much-needed new affordable homes to Carnoustie. Communities Scotland has invested over £1.3 million in the project by Angus Housing Association.
The homes, which will all be available for affordable rent, will be built on the site of the former health centre in the town's Dundee Street.
Wales
First Minister Rhodri Morgan praised the Lifetime Homes standard used in the construction of 23 homes at Caerau, Ely by Wales and West Housing Association, when he officiated at the scheme opening.
The First Minister said:
"Until you actually walk round a house built to Lifetimes Homes standards, you don't actually understand what a revolutionary step forward in house design. It is well ahead, not only of previous standards in social housing and affordable housing design. It is well ahead of the current standards used in new private sector housing as well."
"When you see the size of the kitchen, the bedrooms and the downstairs wet room, you actually see what Lifetimes Homes really means."
"I would commend architects and surveyors, planners and builders from public and private sector to see those new homes. From the feedback I get from tenants, the faster these new design standards are adopted, the better for everyone."