£28m contract secured for strategic regeneration scheme

Energy, services and regeneration specialist, ENGIE, has announced it will lead the £28m transformation of council-owned brownfield land in Rotherham, to provide 237 energy efficient homes.

The land for the new development has been provided by Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council as a strategic regeneration site.

In order to complete the scheme, ENGIE has brought together three partners to offer a mixed-tenure proposition which will comprise 84 homes on behalf of Great Places Housing Group, 73 new homes for Sanctuary Homes (62 for rent and 11 shared ownership) and 80 homes for market rent through Wise Living.

Once complete, the project will feature a mixture of houses, bungalows and flats – ranging from one to four bedroom.

The new homes have been designed with energy efficiency in mind, which should result in lower energy bills while contributing to reducing carbon emissions in the area. Each plot will have provision for electric vehicle charging points.

ENGIE says it will be using a local supply chain to invest in the region’s economy during the build process. It has also pledged to create apprenticeship opportunities.

The land at Whinney Hill and Chesterhill Avenue, in the Thrybergh area of Rotherham has been vacant for many years.

The new development has been granted funding from Homes England, the Government’s housing agency.

David Parkes, managing director for ENGIE’s Places & Communities division, said: “This is regeneration and partnership working in its truest form.

“The council identified this brownfield land as a priority site to help meet local housing need, so we are delighted to bring together a range of partners to bring this vision to life.

“This new development will regenerate the area, offering much-needed new energy efficient homes, jobs and opportunities for local people.

“At ENGIE we are committed to helping our partners in the transition to a net zero carbon future and projects such as this help us to make significant moves towards that goal.”

Rotherham Council’s cabinet member for housing, Councillor Dominic Beck, said: “I’m delighted that the Whinney Hill and Chesterhill Avenue sites will be developed to create much-needed homes in the borough.

“This development demonstrates what can be achieved through partnership working and I’d like to thank ENGIE for their investment in our community.”

Helen Spencer, Director of Development at Great Places, said: “We’re delighted to be working in partnership to deliver this landmark development.

“This project will go some way to tackling the housing crisis in the local area, providing much needed homes and transforming this derelict site into a thriving new community.”

Rob Harbourne, senior development manager at Sanctuary, said: “We are delighted to be working with ENGIE, Rotherham Council and other partners to deliver this exciting project that will breathe new life into this area of Rotherham.”

Mark Gratton, land & partnerships director at Wise Living, said: “We’re really excited about getting underway with the proposed scheme in Rotherham which will see 237 new homes built.

“This is an area we feel will really benefit from quality new housing being delivered and with three partners all taking elements of the site to offer different tenures, this regeneration scheme should really meet the needs of all.

“This is our first scheme working together with ENGIE who we see as a key partner going forward in helping to deliver our ambitious aim of 2,000 decent homes and great places to live per annum, with a number of future sites in the pipeline together.”

Work will progress in late September and will take approximately two years to complete.