Sandwell Council has chosen Lovell to build a £2.5 million council housing development in Smethwick in the West Midlands.
The 28 flats and houses, all for social rent, are the first new council homes to be built in the borough for three decades.
The new housing is being built on the site of the former Bearwood House tower block which was demolished in 2008.
The scheme will create 16 two-bedroom flats, one two-bedroom house, seven three-bedroom houses (one being to full wheelchair standards) and four four-bedroom houses. The new housing is set to welcome its first tenants in March 2011. All properties will meet Level 4 of the Code for Sustainable Homes, the system for measuring the environmental performance of new housing, which means they will achieve a 44 per cent improvement in energy-efficiency against current building regulations.
Through the project, Lovell will also create six construction training placements giving local people the opportunity to train by working on the project for six months, supervised by experts from Lovell.
Sandwell Council Leader Darren Cooper says: "I am delighted that the scheme is going ahead. These will be the first council houses built in the borough for a long, long time and we will be pressing for more money to be made available for social housing as a result. This is really good news for Sandwell and it means that these new properties will built in a prime location."
David Gough, regional director for Lovell, says: “It is exciting to be helping to deliver this high-quality new affordable housing development for Sandwell and we look forward to working with Sandwell Council and the local community as the construction programme goes ahead.”
|
If you like this article and want to share it with friends, please use the social links below:
|
|
Back