Member Article

Affordable Housing Boost for North East

Representatives from housing group Gentoo and Sunderland City Council met recently to celebrate work commencing on 143 brand new homes in Ryhope, Sunderland.

As well as being hugely beneficial to local shops and businesses, the site is a huge boost to affordable housing in the area as most of the new homes are allocated for social rent except for a bespoke bungalow being built for an owner/occupier with specific health requirements.

The first phase of houses will be “level 5 energy efficiency standard”. This is a highly efficient rating of new build property meaning that they will be highly insulated, include ‘Smart’ gas and electric metres and integrated PV panels. Not only does this make the properties more ‘planet smart’ it helps keep residents’ fuel bills down.

Gentoo Group launched a renewal programme in 2002 with the aim to build new housing that is more reflective of the needs of the community in terms of mix of housing quality, tenure and dwelling type, housing layout and environmental quality.

In attendance was chief executive of Gentoo Group Peter Walls, Leader of the Council Cllr Paul Watson, and Karen Anderson, North East Area Manager at the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), who part-funded the project.

Chief Executive of Gentoo Group Peter Walls said: “This is a great boost for Sunderland. As a Group we not only recognise the importance of combining physical, social and economic regeneration. As well as our investment into housing in the City, we continue our comprehensive social investment programme to innovatively tackle social and economic issues within neighbourhoods. We will continue to work to improve housing in Sunderland, as our core belief is that it’s all about how you live.”

The Leader of Sunderland City Council, Councillor Paul Watson added: “Working in partnership with housing providers like Gentoo we can look forward to providing people with a wide range of new properties, to suit their individual economic and accommodation needs.

“We need these news homes to be affordable, energy efficient and to become a valuable part of the sustainable communities in which they are being built.”

Karen Anderson, Area Manager at the Homes and Communities Agency said: “This start on site shows what can be achieved through partnership working. By providing these homes for rent, Gentoo are ensuring that local people can afford the homes in their local community. It is great to see how our investment has helped ensure that the work is starting.”

Construction of the new development began in May and is due to finish March 2015.

Gentoo Group’s whole ethos is about believing nothing is impossible and finding new ways to challenge conventions, Gentoo aims to make society a better place to live and to make a real difference to the way people live their life. To find out more about Gentoo, visit gentoogroup.com for more information or follow @gentoogroup on Twitter.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Laura Facey .