Housing scheme unlocks funding for social centre

Rowlinson has started building 18 new affordable rent apartments for Wythenshawe Community Housing Group on a site formerly owned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Shrewsbury, at Woodhouse Lane in Wythenshawe.

The deal, which also involved Manchester City Council as the freehold owner, will see the funds from the sale of the land going towards the creation of a new community space in Wythenshawe.

The housing development, designed by Modern City Architects & Urbanism, will pay homage to the former church through features such as brick detailing.

The scheme will also be environmentally-friendly with a sustainable drainage system and other aspects including electric vehicle charging points.

David Chilton, managing director of Stockport-based Rowlinson, said: “This is a great partnership which sees land released to build much-needed affordable new homes in Wythenshawe and funding being unlocked to help the Diocese build a community centre.”

Rob Morris, development manager, Wythenshawe Community Housing Group, said: “We are delighted to be working with Rowlinson again on a project that, with support from Homes England, will deliver 18 fantastic affordable homes in our core area of Wythenshawe.

“The site on which the church once stood has been vacant for a number of years now, so it will be a huge positive for the area to see this site regenerated.”

The parish priest, Rev Nick Kern, added: “The Catholic Church has been present in Wythenshawe since 1933 and the site in Woodhouse Lane has gone through many changes in that time.

“The provision of affordable housing on this site and development of community facilities within the parish is a great step forward.”

The £2.4m scheme includes £468,000 funding from Homes England.

Work is currently under way on the development of two-bed apartments and will complete in early 2020.