The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) has confirmed that well over half the 165 uncommitted Kickstart and Local Authority New Build (LANB) schemes under review have now secured funding, following further evaluation in the wake of reductions to the HCA's budget announced in July.
This equates to 44 out of a total of 74 Kickstart schemes and 61 LANB schemes out of a total of 91 schemes which were not under contract before the election purdah period began and subject to evaluation by the HCA's local teams. This will translate into over 4,800 new homes under Kickstart and over 600 homes under LANB across England.
For individual schemes that did not secure Kickstart or LANB funding, there are still further opportunities for HCA funding through other routes such as NAHP or HMR, and the HCA is working with its regional teams to progress this.
England
Housing Hartlepool
Work is due to start on new eco-friendly homes in Hartlepool's Belle Vue area, following confirmation of £3 million in funding from the Homes and Communities Agency.
The £9.25 million scheme, led by Housing Hartlepool, will transform an area which forms a key gateway into the town, replacing unpopular housing with modern homes.
The scheme will feature 84 properties in the first phase of development. A mixture of 2, 3 and 4-bed houses and 2 bed bungalows will include 39 homes for rent, and 30 for sale. A further 15 properties will help local people onto the property ladder through intermediate rent and shared ownership options.
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Home Group
A new £3.8 million development at Wickfield Drive on the Scowerdons Estate in South East Sheffield will create 38 new homes for affordable rent, shared ownership and outright sale.
The scheme is the first phase of a major regeneration programme for the Scowerdons Estate involving the creation of 550 new homes.
The Wickfield Drive properties, set to be completed in spring 2011, will achieve Level 3 of the Code for Sustainable Homes.
The redevelopment of the Scowerdons site forms part of a £135 million scheme between Home Group, Sheffield City Council and the Homes and Communities Agency to create over 1,000 new homes on the former Scowerdons, Weakland and Newstead sites in south east Sheffield.
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Nottingham Community Housing Association
An innovative affordable housing scheme that will provide future lessons for eco-development has started on site in Mansfield.
Three special eco-friendly houses are being built within an existing site at Blake Street. Owned by Nottingham Community Housing Association (NCHA), one of the houses will eventually be their first carbon-zero home.
The three houses will be built to levels four, five and six of the Code for Sustainable Homes. Level Six is the highest possible rating creating a zero-carbon home.
By building the houses across three levels, NCHA hopes to demonstrate the pros and cons of increased construction costs against energy saving benefits for the future tenants.
The different levels of houses will be built with increasing levels of insulation, solar photovoltaic cells, mechanical heat recovery and ventilation systems, and rainwater harvesting.
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Plymouth Community Homes
Barratt Development PLC has been selected as the chosen developer for the first phase of Plymouth Community Homes' regeneration of the North Prospect area.
The new build programme will generate up to 250 new homes and refurbish up to 60 existing houses in North Prospect within the next three years. The area is the flagship programme of the new housing association and one of the biggest regeneration programmes in the South West.
The full planning application for the work will be received in October and work should begin in February and March next year. Residents will be able to see the first houses go up in the summer.
This is one of the first sites in the UK to be awarded as part of the Homes and Communities Agency's (HCA) Delivery Partner Panel framework, which aims to bring publicly owned-land forward for residential development.
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Town & Country Housing Group
The completion of an £11 million development of 80 flats and houses will help to meet the desperate need for affordable homes in Canterbury.
Forty eight of the homes are for rent to people on Canterbury City Council's housing need register. The other 32 are for shared ownership.
The homes have been built as part of a larger development of private homes for sale. They have been handed over to Town & Country Housing Group, a housing association which provides more than 8,000 affordable homes throughout the South East.
The homes for rent have been let through Kent Homechoice, the system which allows eligible people to ‘bid’ on the homes they would like to live in.
Prices for the shared ownership properties vary from £34,375 for a 25% share in a one bedroom flat to £68,750 for a 25% share in a three-bedroom house.
Scotland
Cordale Housing Association
lex Neil, Minister for Housing and Communities visited Renton, to inspect the progress on one of the most challenging housing projects and speak to local apprentices, trainees, employees and businesses that are directly benefitting from this multi million pound investment.
Cordale Housing Association appointed New City Vision to build 111 homes for rent and 18 shared equity properties in the first phase of a housing-led regeneration plan that will transform the former industrial site into one of the most desirable places to live in West Dunbartonshire. Work commenced in February 2010 and is anticipated to be completed on or before March 2012.
In addition to the construction of high quality homes, the project includes raising the 30 acre site to alleviate flood risk - constructing two bridges and the re-introduction of a former mill lade. All of this is within the confines of a site that sits adjacent to the river Leven, which is one of Scotland's fastest flowing rivers.
The project has created 4 apprentices, 2 professional trainees, established new business and supported small to medium sizes companies that might otherwise be struggling in the current economic climate. In addition an average of 55% of the on-site labour live in West Dunbartonshire.