PlaceFirst to refurbish 200 empty properties
MANCHESTER-based empty homes developer PlaceFirst is to refurbish 200 empty properties in Accrington.
It is working in partnership with social landlord Twin Valley Homes and Hyndburn Borough Council on the project that will bring life back to streets that have been boarded up since the demise of Labour’s Pathfinder housing market renewal scheme.
Five streets in Woodnook were left in limbo when the coalition scrapped Pathfinder two years ago. Under the initiative homes were bought up with the intention of clearing areas and building new accommodation.
PlaceFirst will preserve the homes and in some cases remodel them – making two-bed terraced houses into larger properties. The work is due to start in December with the first tenants moving into the refurbished family homes in the summer of 2014.
PlaceFirst and the housing association will invest £6.5m in phase one of the scheme with the Homes & Communities Agency committing £3.76m
Earlier this week the Government committed more money to a £150m fund to address one million empty houses in the UK.
PlaceFirst was founded in 2009 by managing director David Smith-Milne following a management buy-out from the Tribal Group.
The business is supported by equity investment and loan facilities from The North West Fund for Energy and Environmental, managed by CT Investment Partners. It aims to refurbish and remodel some 2,000 properties in the North West of England over the next three years.
