Member Article

New housing scheme to get underway

Development work is due to commence this month on a brand new housing scheme in a County Durham village.

Housing developer, Keepmoat Homes is building 86 two, three and four bedroom homes with a mix of house types that are ideal for first time buyers, professionals and families.

The development, which will be called The Homesteads, is located on land directly off Front Street in Shotton Colliery and will include 77 homes for sale, 3 for shared ownership and 9 affordable homes for rent.

Keepmoat Homes purchased the five acre land from Durham County Council earlier this month after plans were approved in July.

The £9m scheme will not only help to regenerate the area but it will also breathe new life into the village. As part of the plans, Keepmoat has also agreed to offer £43,000 for recreation space and £5,000 for off-site ecological works.

Access to the development will be directly off Front Street and all homes will be energy efficient with 10% of the overall energy demands of the scheme being supplied from photovoltaic panels located on the roofs of the dwellings. The new homes are to be laid out in a circular road network, which will include pedestrian links to the neighbouring surroundings.

Ian Prescott, Land and Partnership’s Director at Keepmoat, said: “We are delighted that work has commenced on the development of these high quality, new and affordable homes. This is the eleventh new housing project that Keepmoat Homes has started in the North East this year. Collectively, these schemes will see the construction of over 2,100 new homes representing an investment in the region by Keepmoat in excess of £250m.”

The shared ownership properties and affordable homes for rent will be available through social housing provider, the Vela Group. Sarah Fawcett, Head of Development at Vela, said: “The homes will provide a great opportunity for people to live in this exciting new development and will add a strong mix to the housing stock in the area. We are committed to providing affordable homes through various tenures and look forward to taking on the management of the properties as well as seeing them develop over the coming months.”

The architects for the development are Queensbury Design.

A showhome is expected to be open in February 2014 and anyone interested in finding out more information about the new homes for sale can contact Keepmoat on 0191 495 4500 or visit www.keepmoat.com.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Craig Downs .