£1m investment sees brownfield site ready for regeneration

Some homes already built by Keepmoat in a previous phase of the Spirit Quarters redevelopment

Following a £1m investment, the demolition and redevelopment of a housing estate in Coventry are underway.

Funding from the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) will enable developer Keepmoat Homes to build 94 homes on the 5.5-acre site, 20 of which will be available for social rent in partnership with Citizen Housing.

The Wood End estate was built by the council in the 1950s and will be knocked down following the decline of the area.

The scheme will generate employment opportunities, including apprenticeships and work placements, throughout the lifetime of the project alongside the regeneration of the brownfield site.

Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands and chair of the WMCA, said: “By using government cash to clean-up derelict industrial land or residential sites like Wood End we’ve helped create thousands of new homes and jobs, whilst also protecting our precious and irreplaceable green belt.

“Our investments have also helped to create and secure local jobs for local people by guaranteeing work for the construction sector during the pandemic.”

A minimum of 20% of the homes will be classed as ‘affordable housing’ under the WMCA’s own regional definition of affordability. This is linked to the areas wages rather than property prices. All schemes invested by WMCA have to meet this criteria.

Cllr Mike Bird, WMCA portfolio holder for housing and land and leader of Walsall Council, said: “Without the WMCA’s intervention this new housing scheme would not have happened and the opportunity to build badly needed new homes would have been lost.

“That’s important because the West Midlands has an ambitious target to build 215,000 new homes by 2031 – homes that are energy-efficient and affordable.”

Nearby Manor Farm, Henley Green and Deedmore neighbourhoods are also being redeveloped which will see more than 3,300 homes built in the area.

Charlotte Goode, regional managing director at Keepmoat Homes, said: “This site isn’t your typical new homes development, it is part of a wider regeneration project which represents a tremendous opportunity for the city’s growth.

“We have a strong track record of delivering new homes across the country, particularly on brownfield land such as this, and we have already delivered almost 1,000 homes on previous phases at Wood End with Citizen Housing.

“Our aim is to make a big impact to the local community, delivering real value to not only those who choose to live there but also to the surrounding area.”

The Wood End investment has been made through the WMCA’s innovative Single Commissioning Framework. Launched in September 2019, the framework provides a single set of criteria that is applied to all housing projects in the region, including requirements on affordable housing, design and modular construction.

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