The £42M Schemes Helping to Deliver Affordable Homes
Work is underway on 250 affordable homes following Esh Construction being appointed by Thirteen to deliver two developments in Middlesbrough. Housing Industry Leaders looks at how the schemes will create much-needed sustainable homes for locals.
Located across sites in Brambles and Gresham, the combined £42 million schemes will provide a mix of houses, apartments and bungalows all for affordable rent.
A breaking ground ceremony officially marked the start on site for Kedward Avenue, which will see 105 homes delivered on two sites adjacent to each other in Brambles Farm, formerly home to three demolished tower blocks.
How Will The Schemes Help Regenerate Middlesbrough?
MMC will be used throughout the schemes, with all the homes being built with a timber frame. Timber frames help to boost design flexibility, provide high levels of airtightness performance, make the speed of the programme quicker, improve health and safety, and have less of an impact on the environment. In addition, ten of the properties will also be built as net zero carbon homes.
Mark Binns, Operations Director at Esh Construction, explained that the project will boost employment in the local community: “Securing these two notable projects and continuing our successful working relationship with Thirteen has kickstarted growth plans within our affordable housing division.”
We have a £166 million forward order book secured, which in turn allows us to create employment opportunities for local people and generate a significant amount of work for our local supply chain.
Mark continued to express that Esh Construction’s priority is leaving a positive impact on the area: “As always, we are committed to delivering a wealth of social value initiatives with a view to leaving a legacy in the area.
“This will include volunteering and donations, training opportunities for apprentices, out-of-work residents and T-Level students, school and college engagement, and local procurement.”
Just four miles apart, Esh Construction is making headway with 145 new homes on a development known as Union Village. Forming part of ambitious plans to regenerate areas of central Middlesbrough by bringing derelict land back to life, the scheme has been funded by Thirteen, Homes England and the Government’s Brownfield Housing Fund.
Middlesbrough Has The Worst Property Price Performance
Thirteen has brought forward the schemes in partnership with Middlesbrough Council, Redcar and Cleveland Council, Homes England, and other partners.
Thirteen’s Director of Development, Joy Whinnerah, said that the project is helping to deliver much-needed homes to Middlesbrough: “These two fantastic developments are bringing modern, high quality and affordable homes to Middlesbrough, and so much hard work has gone into making them happen.
“They are creating much-needed homes, and we’re thrilled to be working with our partners to bring them to life.”
Each scheme will boost the ongoing regeneration in its area and leave a lasting legacy for years to come.
The need for affordable housing in Middlesbrough is so important as research from eXp UK analysed house price data since 2009, adjusting for inflation, to reveal where has been the best and worst places to have bought a home in that time.
Middlesbrough was found to have the worst property price performance, as inflation-adjusted house price growth sits at -9.5 per cent.
Places such as County Durham, Hartlepool, Sunderland, Gateshead, Darlington, Blackpool, Allerdale, Preston, Richmondshire, Stockton-on-Tees and Redcar, and Cleveland are also yet to recover.
The new developments follow the successful completion of twenty-five two-bedroom bungalows and three four-bedroom houses for Thirteen in the heart of South Bank.
This project was designed to meet the needs of an ageing population and will support people to live independently for longer.
Going forward, Esh Construction will work in partnership with Hall & Partners, BSBA Architects, iD Civils and Billinghurst George & Partners throughout the Kedward Avenue project, and IDPartnership, Elliott Associates and CK21 Ltd for the Gresham development.
