Member Article

Transforming Teesside’s housing options

The first homes on the only North East new build housing development specifically designed to offer properties of all tenures are nearing completion.

Vistry Partnerships North East’s £55 million Kirkleatham scheme, on the edge of Redcar will eventually provide 375 properties - 187 for private sale, 80 for private rent and 108 for shared ownership and affordable rent.

Having signed a deal with the government’s housing accelerator Homes England, to purchase the land, the housing and regeneration specialist brought in partners Sigma Capital Group plc and Beyond Housing to offer a diverse range of homes and options.

Vistry’s housebuilding division – Linden Homes – is marketing the properties for sale, with a significant number of reservations taken at a pre-launch event and more expected following the opening of all three showhomes and an official sales launch in early October.

Sigma, one of the leading providers of build to rent homes across the UK, will be offering properties for private rent as part of its first venture in the North East, through its Simple Life brand. Beyond Housing, which operates in Cleveland and North Yorkshire, providing homes for more than 30,000 customers, will provide the homes for shared ownership and affordable rent.

Sean Egan, Managing Director for Vistry Partnerships North East, said: “This is an exciting project, which is bringing a range of housing choice to the region to help address the growing need within the locality through the provision of new, high quality, well designed homes of all tenures. We have had huge interest in the development ahead of the official sales launch and show home opening, demonstrating the strong demand that exists in Redcar.”

“We share Homes England’s ambition to deliver large scale housing in fantastic landscaped settings, providing jobs and training opportunities which boost local economies and create communities in which people choose to live and work. With the ability to operate as a specialist private housing developer and a contractor supporting our partners, we look forward to playing our part in making this a reality for communities in Redcar and the North East.”

Jason Berry, Regional MD with Sigma Capital, added: “We are really excited to be working with Vistry to deliver new homes in a new region for us. We are passionate about delivering high quality family houses for rent. As a build to rent landlord, we offer people a long term, ‘forever-home’ solution, with peace of mind that they are renting from a professional landlord that they can trust. With over 2,200 properties across the UK, we have experienced a huge demand for high quality rental family homes, so we are very much looking forward to bringing Simple Life to the North East this year.”

Clare Harrigan, Head of Development and Regeneration at Beyond Housing, said: “It is particularly pleasing to see high quality new homes on this exciting development nearing completion, despite the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. We are committed to meeting the varied housing needs of our customers and in reaching our ambitious objective to deliver 2,000 new homes by 2025.”

In addition to the Redcar scheme, Vistry is working on another 350 mixed tenure development in Middlesbrough at Brackenhoe.

Having purchased the 29 acre site - adjacent to the James Cook University Hospital from Middlesbrough Council and Sports Academy – Vistry Partnerships North East again brought Sigma on board to provide 80 homes for private rent through its Simple Life brand.

This time Thirteen, which manages 34,000 properties from North Tyneside to York, is the affordable housing provider with 100 homes for rent.

Picture Caption: Taking a socially distanced tour of the Kirkleatham Green site are: L/R, Jason Berry, Graeme Reay, Land Director with Sigma Capital; Sean Egan and Dave Brown, Construction Director with Vistry Partnerships North East.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Paul Dobbie .