Council delivers 12 new, high-quality social housing properties
A £4.3 million development of new social rent homes in St Albans is almost completed with tenants due to move in this spring.
St Albans City and District Council has developed the 12 properties on a site called The Hedges, off Woollam Crescent, Batchwood.
There are six family-sized, semi-detached houses, each with three bedrooms and a back garden, and an apartment building with six two-bedroom flats. The ground floor flats have wet rooms designed for people with mobility needs.
The site previously had ten single-storey prefab units that were used for temporary accommodation and were no longer fit for purpose.
All the new homes are being allocated to people on the Council’s housing register who are waiting for a permanent home of their own.
Councillor Jacqui Taylor, Lead for Housing, enjoyed a tour of the site and said:
I am delighted that we have delivered such a high-quality development of much-needed new homes.
It is another demonstration of our priority commitment to provide more modern, quality social housing that will last long into the future.
These homes have been built to the highest standard and include many eco-friendly features that will keep emissions low. I am sure the new tenants will be very happy to move into this community.
The design of the new homes and the building materials were chosen to blend in with existing Woollam Crescent properties.
Each ground floor flat has its own outdoor space while there is also a communal garden for all tenants to enjoy. Resident and visitor parking as well as secure cycle storage has also been included on the site.
In keeping with the Council’s commitment to tackling climate change and reducing harmful emissions, the properties were fitted with energy efficient features. These include solar panels and air source heat pumps to provide renewable energy.
Infrastructure for electric vehicle charging has been incorporated, and the charging points can simply be installed as and when needed as electric vehicle usage increases.
In addition, the landscaped gardens support ecology by providing new trees, bird and bat boxes, and hedgehog highways.
Cllr Taylor added:
I am proud that the decisions we took to build all our new Council homes without gas and with renewable energy systems instead are bearing fruit with each new development. This avoids the need for costly retro-fitting in the future.
The King Offa site in Sopwell is being built to the same standard and we have three more sites in the pipeline in the Sopwell and Cunningham areas. We are also currently reviewing all the little used garage sites across the District to bring forward others suitable for social housing.
Photos: top, Cllr Taylor, centre, beside some of the three-bedroom houses at The Hedges with Cllr Paul de Kort, right, the Council leader, and Matt Cleaver, left, the contracts manager for builders Parrott Construction; below, Cllr Taylor, centre, beside the apartment block with Cllr de Kort, left, and Matt Cleaver, right.
Media contact: John McJannet, Principal Communications Officer, St Albans City and District Council: 01727- 819533; john.mcjannet@stalbans.gov.uk.