Brierley Hill site to deliver 30 affordable homes for rent in £5.9 million scheme
Families struggling to afford to rent a good quality, energy efficient home are set to benefit from a new Brierley Hill housing scheme.
The former Wood & Moore builders merchants in Wallows Road, which was also previously used as a glassworks, has been unlocked for new residential development thanks to an investment of nearly £700,000 from the West Midlands Combined Authority.
The site will be transformed to provide 30 affordable homes for local people to rent through housing provider Citizen.
The WMCA investment will be used to clean up the two-acre brownfield site and make it ready for development as part of a £5.9 million scheme which will also involve a £1.5m investment from Homes England.
The scheme will see regional developer Liberty Developments construct the new homes, with more than 25 per cent of them meeting the WMCA’s Zero Carbon homes requirements using advanced methods of construction. These will feature low-carbon components produced off site in factory-controlled conditions and will adhere to the strict criteria needed to meet the zero carbon target.
The new properties, which will all be made available at affordable rents, will not only include homes that are low carbon in their construction, but also super energy efficient making them much cheaper for tenants to heat and power.
Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands and WMCA chairman, said: “Delivering affordable, high quality, energy efficient homes for local people is a key priority for our region. This development is another contribution to that overall effort and is a good example of the type of forward-looking housing scheme that would be great to see replicated and scaled up across our region.
“This scheme breathes new life into a brownfield site whilst helping to protect our precious greenbelt and deploys modern methods of construction, generating jobs for local people.
“Brownfield-first housing schemes like this are keeping us on track to achieve our regional target of building 215,000 new homes by 2031. By expanding the provision of affordable, high quality, energy efficient housing, we’re enabling local people to meet their property aspirations.”
Last summer the region launched its Plan for Growth, a roadmap to help level up the West Midlands, drive future prosperity and recapture its pre-Covid position as the fastest growing region outside London.
The plan seeks to combine the power of the private and public sectors around eight clusters, one of which is the manufacture of low carbon, factory-built homes and construction components.
Alan Yates, chairman of Liberty Developments, said: “This is a challenging site, but we were keen to deliver a high-quality development incorporating off-site construction methods and low carbon technologies.
“The funding has enabled us to unlock this site and the fact that the WMCA is supporting new, regional housing developers such as Liberty Developments shows their genuine commitment to delivering its Plan for Growth with a range of partners.”
