An innovative project to bring Teesside's empty homes back into use is also helping unemployed residents to learn new skills to get back into work.
Coast & Country, one of the North East's largest regeneration and housing companies, has drawn on funding from the Homes & Communities Agency to develop the Empty Homes initiative.
The scheme, which is backed by Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council, Community Campus 87 and East Cleveland Youth Housing Trust, aims to renovate ten homes in its first year, with a further ten to follow.
The project sees landlords owning long-term empty properties in the Redcar and Cleveland borough being offered a package of refurbishment work in return for leasing the property to Coast & Country.
Nine people, who are unemployed, homeless or struggling to gain skills in the construction industry, have been offered places to train with mentors to refurbish the empty homes.
Now the first property, in Brotton, has been completed, with two more underway. Work includes fitting new kitchens and bathrooms, wallpapering, painting and decorating.
The scheme was made possible by a £250,000 investment from the Homes and Communities Agency.
Crawley Borough Council
The first new build council homes in Crawley for a decade are underway.
The 16 flats currently under construction are jointly funded by Crawley Borough Council and Social Housing Grant from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).
The Council was granted Investor Partner Status by the HCA, followed by an award of £976,000, making Crawley Council the first local authority to be granted money from the National Affordable Housing Programme, a pot usually reserved for housing associations.
The new units will be built to code four eco-standards, which are the highest eco-standards yet to be achieved in Crawley.
Green features include solar panels, which will directly reduce the schemes running costs. The homes will also be built to 'lifetime homes' standards, accommodating the diverse needs of users over time.
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Durham County Council
A major County Durham housing development is officially underway after prospective tenants cut the first sod at a groundbreaking ceremony.
The £5.6 million scheme will create 50 new Council-owned homes for older people in the market town of Crook.
The new homes, backed by £2.6 million in funding from the Homes and Communities Agency, will be owned by Durham County Council and managed by Dales and Valley Homes.
The development's first phase will complete later in 2011, leaving the way clear to replace flats vacated by residents moving to their new homes with a second phase of apartments.
A total of 46 apartments and four bungalows have been designed for lifelong living - they are wheelchair accessible and can be adapted as residents' needs change.
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Home Group
Twenty-two affordably-priced town centre flats for older people will be built in Egremont after a £2.8 million social housing project received the final green light.
Home Group has secured investment of £660,000 from the Homes and Communities Agency to allow the new development designed for older people to go ahead.
Ehen Court will consist of 22 modern two-bedroom residential flats, a communal lounge and an office with a scheme manager service. It will be located at the site of a now demolished sheltered housing complex.
Planning permission was received earlier this year and the key contractor is Thomas Armstrong Construction.
Building work will now begin at the end of January, with residents getting keys to their new homes approximately one year later.
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Hull City Council / Pickering and Ferens Homes
Work started on the first council houses to be built in Hull for a generation.
Keepmoat Homes is building 38 eco friendly houses and bungalows - the first in the City to achieve Sustainable Homes Code Level 4 - in an area at the heart of a massive regeneration initiative.
Of these, 18 will be council houses and 20 will belong to the Housing Association, Pickering and Ferens Homes. All will be available for rent.
A grant of £3.3 million from the Homes and Communities Agency enabled the scheme - and two others in Hull, creating 19 further council homes – to go ahead.
The homes will feature cavity, loft and under-floor insulation, on-site recycling of water, high efficiency boilers, renewable timbers and high performance double glazed windows and doors.
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Jephson Homes Housing Association
Around 40 construction jobs are expected to be generated with a building project to create 70 brand new homes in Coventry.
The project will also provide the opportunity for trainees from Coventry's City College to get hands-on industry experience.
The brownfield site is being developed for Jephson Homes Housing Association by Cassidy Group with the support of Coventry City Council.
Project partners and local councilors attended a start-on-site ceremony at the former Council depot site, which had been empty for a number of years.
The new properties will be built to Code for Sustainable Homes level 3 with a mixture of family houses, disabled and general use apartments and maisonettes.
The funding has in part been provided by the Homes and Communities Agency and the land value paid to the City Council will directly benefit the nearby New Deal for Communities programme.
The land, which is a former post war landfill site, will be remediated and cleaned. The river Sowe which runs through the middle of the site will be cleared and reshaped, with the the Environmental Agency providing guidance on natural habitat.
The work will take around 16 months to complete.