First look at new homes

Mon 25th January 2010 2.26PM

A DESIGN has been unveiled for the first council houses to be built in Bolton for 20 years. Planning approval was recently granted for the £2 million scheme, which will see 17 homes built on land at Hamilton Court, in Little Lever. The project, which was given a £1 million grant by the government, will see work commencing in February. The houses – 10 two-bedroom apartments, six semi-detached houses and one detached house – are expected to be ready for tenants in early 2011, and will be managed by Bolton at Home.

Great Places Housing Group is the development agent for the scheme and architects Paddock Johnson Partnership were appointed to carry out the design. The homes have been designed to be energy efficient and will meet the government’s code for sustainable homes level 4. The scheme also contains leisure space and parking provision, with shared communal allotment spaces to the rear of the apartments. Councillor Nick Peel, Bolton Council’s Executive Member for Housing, said: “These are the first homes we will be building and retaining ownership of in more than two decades.

Like all local authorities, we have a real shortage of affordable housing and these houses will help provide much needed new housing for local people. The housing scheme has been designed with careful consideration to the surrounding areas, neighbourhoods and buildings.” The homes form part of the council’s Transforming Estates programme, which aims to develop around 6,000 new homes of which 3,000 will be for sale and 3,000 for affordable rent over the next 12 years dependent on market conditions and securing planning approval.