Work starts today building seven new family homes for rent on land at The Hawthorns in Mudeford, Christchurch – helping to tackle Christchurch’s housing crisis.

The four three-bedroom and three two-bedroom houses will be built by Rok for Twynham Housing Association, on two areas of land where there have been antisocial behaviour problems in the past. One is the former garages site owned by Twynham, the other is a small play area sold to the Association by Christchurch Borough Council.

As an added bonus for the area, the development will include an extra car parking area with 13 spaces to help ease parking problems in nearby Blackberry Lane.

The houses will be built using a timber frame system where some of the preparatory work is done in a factory. The government strongly encourages such modern methods of construction which also mean that the houses should be completed in less time than using traditional techniques – reducing any disruption to nearby residents.

Marion Franks, Twynham’s Managing Director, says: “Now we are part of the Sovereign Housing Group we can start developing again and Christchurch is our top priority, working in partnership with the Borough Council. These seven new homes are our first in this area for five years and will provide much needed affordable housing for local people when they’re finished early next year. As this is a district where very little land is available, it’s also vital that we re-use existing sites like these.”

In the next week or two Twynham and Rok will be holding a drop-in event for nearby residents to meet the site manager, and will also send out newsletters to keep neighbours informed of progress on the scheme.

Published 23 May 2007
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