Member Article

£2.4 million affordable housing development close to completion

Construction of a new 14-unit affordable homes scheme in Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire is set for completion in June.

The site at Dale Lane was owned by the Joshua Wood charity before being purchased by Leeds-based housing association Unity Homes and Enterprise to build a mix of two and three bed bungalows for affordable rent.

Despite challenges posed by the pandemic, contractor Torpoint has made excellent progress on the £2.4 million development with keys to the properties due to be handed over to the first tenants from Kirklees Council’s housing register early this summer.

The Heckmondwike project will further extend Unity’s footprint in Kirklees following the opening of new affordable housing developments at Northgate in Cleckheaton and Quarmby Road in Huddersfield.

This is an exciting time for Unity and Huddersfield as the association has just obtained planning permission to build an additional 30 new two and three bed homes at Plane Street, with construction work also due to begin in the summer.

Unity was formed in 1987 with the objective of building a strong, community-based housing association to address the needs of black and minority ethnic communities in Leeds.

It now manages more than 1,300 properties for tenants from all communities and ethnic backgrounds in West Yorkshire.

Wayne Noteman, Unity Regeneration Director, said: “It is always satisfying to reach the concluding stages of a major development project.

“There were added challenges with this scheme because of Covid and the end of the Brexit transition phase which risked impacting on building supplies, but close partnership working has ensured a relatively seamless process.

“Torpoint has done an excellent job and Unity is grateful to our partners Kirklees Council and Homes England for their strong support in delivering this scheme in these extraordinary challenging times.”

Cedric Boston, Unity Interim Chief Executive, said: “This development represents another significant step towards our objective of delivering 220 new properties under the Government’s Affordable Homes Programme, the most ambitious development plan in our history.

“Unity is a housing association with social purpose at its heart.

“Building high quality affordable homes for people from diverse communities and positively impacting their lives is the mission that drives us on.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Barry White .