Record number of affordable homes
We are celebrating starting on more than 1600 affordable homes in our development programme.
We reported the figure as part of our end of year development reports, which also saw us complete more than 1000 dwellings for people in the Midlands to move into and have a place to call home. Of those homes, more than 300 were built using modern methods of construction and almost 650 were built using funding from the government through the Homes England’s strategic partnership.
In Hereford, we took handover of an 80 apartment retirement village and at London Road in Kirton, Lincolnshire, we delivered 41 homes where 6 were built to exceed the Future Homes Standard, benefitting from solar panels, air source heat pumps, thermal flooring and triple glazing.
The number of starts on site achieved a new record for us, delivering 1654 and exceeding our target set at the start of the year of 1600. Work began on key sites including Beeston in Nottingham, where we will deliver 319 affordable homes with 82 being on the Octopus Energy ‘Zero Bills’ tariff. Elsewhere we put spades in the ground at Bennets Road in Keresley, Coventry for 260 homes and at Prospect Drive in Rushden, Northamptonshire, where 133 homes will be delivered for the area.
The year also saw us take management of our 50,000th home as an organisation, following more than 5000 homes being delivered since 2020. The pipeline for the future also shows huge promise, including a site at Browns Lane in Tamworth that will see 210 homes and large green spaces commence.
Gerraint Oakley, our Executive Director of Growth and Development said: “I am delighted for the entire team with what’s been achieved in our development of affordable homes across the Midlands. We made the decision following the pandemic to keep building homes which required a monumental effort from everyone in programme, new business, delivery and sales. To see us start on more than 1600 homes in the year is fantastic, with certain sites some of the biggest we’ve ever delivered as Platform.
Almost 600 of these will be built from modern methods of construction and nearly all are designed to be gas free. The number we completed against a backdrop of ongoing challenges is outstanding. Sites have been up against planning and highway issues, along with constant financial challenges faced by the small and medium regional builders we often work with. Our new, adapted approaches to land and partnership mean we’re also predicting continuing to achieve similar numbers of starts which could see us deliver more than 7,500 sustainable, affordable homes in the next five years. There is plenty of work still to do as we seek to contribute to the ambitious government target of 1.5million homes; it’s vital that we continue our hard work in the social housing sector to give people who need it most, the foundations for life that come with a place to call home.”
Photo caption : Energy efficient homes delivered at London Road in Kirton, Lincs