Lea Hall to be restored as works start at new housing scheme

Construction has begun on 107 new homes at Countryside’s Handsworth Wood development, which includes 60 new allotments and £350k to repair the nearby Grade II listed Lea Hall.

The move on site will see Countryside embark on an ambitious new scheme that will bring 107 three and four-bedroom detached and semi-detached homes to Handsworth Wood, whilst also preserving space for the Lea Hall allotments and reviving the nearby Grade II listed building.

Spanning 5,040 spm of the land, 60 allotments have already been created as a replacement for the 35 active allotments that were already on the site, which is located off Wood Lane.

Once complete, new and existing residents in the area will also benefit from a new public space, which will include a playground and an outdoor green gym.

Gary Belcher, Managing Director at Countryside, comments: “This is a very exciting project for Countryside, as this particular site will bring the significant investment required to restore Lea Hall, which currently plays a crucial role in the local community. As well as providing this much-needed funding, the scheme will revive the disused land near the allotments to provide ample, mixed-tenure family housing for the local area, thanks to our strong partnership model with both Midland Heart and Sigma.”

Out of the 107 homes, 66 will be available to buy on the open market, with prices starting from £226,995. Ten homes will be available through Midland Heart housing association’s shared ownership initiative and the remaining 31 properties will be for private rent through Sigma Capital Group’s private rental brand, Simple Life Homes.

Steven Brewster, Development Manager for Sigma comments: “We’re looking forward to providing the local community with further much needed two, three and four bedroom houses locally and to provide the opportunity to rent some of these beautiful new homes. The Simple Life brand is dedicated to making life easy for tenants by offering a new standard of renting which is very hard to come by in the current rental housing market. We have seen a huge demand for our homes with Countryside across the UK and this site is shaped to be no exception.”

Chris Miller, Director of Development, Midland Heart, adds: “We are very pleased to be playing a role in this creative development, which is part of our new partnership with Countryside to build 1,000 homes over the next three years. The development will bring improvements to the Handsworth community as well as provide a range of new housing to the area. Midland Heart’s homes will all be three bedroom family houses for shared ownership, offering local people an opportunity to get on to the property ladder at an affordable cost. The first houses are expected to be ready for occupation in autumn 2020.”

 

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