Birmingham social housing residents can look forward to living in some of the greenest and cheapest houses to run in the City after work has started on a pioneering £16 million showcase development scheme in Warstock.
Community regeneration agency and social landlord Black Country Housing Group (BCHG) and Birmingham City Council held a ceremony at the South Birmingham site to mark work officially starting on the 116 new homes.
Developed with housing regeneration specialist Lovell, the scheme will transform Warstock estate into the greenest development in the City – and residents have been enthusiastic in their support of the plans.
The scheme is Birmingham’s first sustainable housing development and will see brand new, high performance homes being built.
Two thirds will be for private sale, the rest will be rented out to social housing residents or sold through the Housing Corporation’s shared ownership scheme (known as New Build HomeBuy) by BCHG.
Some of the high-tech green features of the homes include high standards of thermal insulation, wind turbines, low energy lighting in the homes as well as the street lighting, solar panels and efficient heating appliances.
There will also be water butts, external drying facilities, recycling and the provision for home-working.
All of the new homes in the mixed tenure development will share the same design specifications, and will be tailored to offer a variety of sizes of homes.
Occupying six acres of land off Warstock Road, the new homes are replacing five structurally defective blocks of flats and four blocks of sub-standard maisonettes which have already been demolished. The building work will take approximately two years to complete.
Sandra Spence, Chief Executive of BCHG, said: ‘We are delighted to have been invited by one of Europe’s foremost cities to apply our considerable experience of building sustainable homes.
Community regeneration agency and social landlord Black Country Housing Group (BCHG) and Birmingham City Council held a ceremony at the South Birmingham site to mark work officially starting on the 116 new homes.
Developed with housing regeneration specialist Lovell, the scheme will transform Warstock estate into the greenest development in the City – and residents have been enthusiastic in their support of the plans.
The scheme is Birmingham’s first sustainable housing development and will see brand new, high performance homes being built.
Two thirds will be for private sale, the rest will be rented out to social housing residents or sold through the Housing Corporation’s shared ownership scheme (known as New Build HomeBuy) by BCHG.
Some of the high-tech green features of the homes include high standards of thermal insulation, wind turbines, low energy lighting in the homes as well as the street lighting, solar panels and efficient heating appliances.
There will also be water butts, external drying facilities, recycling and the provision for home-working.
All of the new homes in the mixed tenure development will share the same design specifications, and will be tailored to offer a variety of sizes of homes.
Occupying six acres of land off Warstock Road, the new homes are replacing five structurally defective blocks of flats and four blocks of sub-standard maisonettes which have already been demolished. The building work will take approximately two years to complete.
Sandra Spence, Chief Executive of BCHG, said: ‘We are delighted to have been invited by one of Europe’s foremost cities to apply our considerable experience of building sustainable homes.
’Birmingham City council’s vision of sustainable development will be a beacon to other partnerships and we look forward to working with them to achieve their goal.’
John Lines, Cabinet Minister for Housing at Birmingham City Council, said: ‘The unique feature about this exciting development is that tenants living in the demolished properties and those in neighbouring properties have been consulted about the design of the new homes, using Black Country Housing Group’s tried and tested ‘Successful Tenancies’ approach.
‘Community engagement is a priority for us and we were pleased to receive such positive input from residents.’
‘We are excited to be a part of this innovative development scheme which will see a huge area in Warstock regenerated to the highest standards incorporating cutting-edge green technology,’ added Chris King, Regional Director for Lovell.
