Basingstoke pupils step back in time

Published by Steve Murphy for Sentinel Housing Association Ltd in Housing

Sentinel Housing Association brought a touch of Jane Austen to South View. The Basingstoke based landlord marked the completion of the new Knightley Court apartment complex in Shooters Way, Basingstoke, with an 18th century costume photocall.

“Local schoolchildren helped choose a name for the new building, with the most popular entry being Knightley Court, Mr Knightley is a character in Jane Austen’s novel Emma”, Regeneration Project Manager Susan Woodward explains: “We thought it would be fun for the two competition winners to be photographed in historic dress outside the newly completed Knightley Court.”

Sentinel has invested £1.6m to demolish the former Northfield House block of bedsit accommodation and transform the site into 10 one and two bedroom apartments for affordable rent, for people on the housing waiting list.

Construction company Mansell developed the site on behalf of Sentinel, and managed to complete the project in May, ahead of the predicted autumn completion time.

The scheme is the latest in a series of town regeneration projects by Sentinel worth £90m, to replace more than 350 outdated ex-council properties with around 650 new homes by 2011.

Jane Austen was born in 1775 in Steventon near Basingstoke, where her father was the parish rector. She lived in the village for 25 years and was a frequent visitor to Basingstoke to attend dances at the Assembly Rooms there. The building no longer stands in the town but it was situated just off Market Place in the centre of town. Jane was also known to dine at the Crown Inn on Winchester Street.