40 Council-built homes are complete for the first time in more than 7 years completed in North Manchester
The 40 new affordable Council homes in North Manchester have now been handed over to tenants, and a further 20 new shared ownership homes bought by the Council to help residents on to the property ladder.
All of the homes are 2-bed home located across six sites across North Manchester will be managed by the Council’s housing management organisation, Northwards Housing. The rental homes will be affordable to Manchester people.
The properties have been built by Willmott Dixon with support from Homes England with £1.4m grant funding.
The City Council has also purchased 20 new, high-quality family homes in partnership with Taylor Wimpey at Booth Hall in Charlestown, North Manchester that will be repurposed to support Manchester people onto the property ladder through affordable shared-ownership.
There has been a great deal of interest in the shared-ownership properties, with 16 either completed or in the process of being sold, with a final four left remaining for new owners. The next phase of the North Manchester new homes project will be announced later this year and will include a further 150 new homes.
These affordable homes projects represent the first phase of an ambitious affordable housing investment programme that will see 6,400 genuinely affordable homes built up to 2025.
Since April 2015, 3,000 affordable homes have either already been delivered or are in the pipeline, with the full quota to be delivered by March 2021, and a further 3,400 affordable homes will be built by March 2025 – at least 1,000 of which will be social rent.
Suzanne Richards, Manchester City Council’s executive member for housing and regeneration said: “This time last year we visited small plots across North Manchester with a vision to see the first Council home building in seven years. Having visited one of these homes this week I can confidently say the end product is a testament to our ambition. The quality of these homes is incredible and the result is highly efficient and cheap to run family homes.
“We are committed to bringing new affordable homes to Manchester people and these 60 homes show our ambition to make sure there are different types of housing coming to market, from rental properties to options that are helping Manchester people buy their own home.
“Importantly these homes contribute to strengthening the existing neighbourhood, creating a stable community where Manchester people will want to live and put down roots.”
Anthony Dillon, managing director of Willmott Dixon in the North added: “The positivity and community spirit surrounding the delivery of these highly-anticipated homes is inspiring. This project represents a truly positive legacy far beyond just bricks and mortar.
“Throughout this project we have been focussed on helping to raise the aspirations and opportunities available to the North Manchester community, providing a range of jobs and training on our sites, and we are delighted to be able to see the fantastic reactions of those moving into their new homes.”
