Railway starts work on new East Yorkshire development

Published by Neil Shaefer for Railway Housing Association in Housing and also in Communities

Railway Housing Association has started work on an eco-friendly, affordable housing scheme at Swanland Village, near Hull.

The development will see Railway's developing partner Yuill Homes deliver 26 new sustainable homes for local residents to rent - including 16 new two bed apartments, as well as ten two bedroom bungalows.

Part-funded by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), the scheme will include an innovative sedum roof which will be planted on top of the new apartment complex - transforming a typically unused space into a microclimate for birds and insects. Set to be planted with an array of herbs and flowers, the roof will help to improve the insulation of the building as well as reducing the surface run off of rainfall.

Situated at the Newton Thorpe Cottages site on Mill Rise, homes on the development will be built to the Code for Sustainable Homes Level 3 standard.

The bungalows will be installed with solar thermal panels to provide up to 60% free hot water for the occupants to help further reduce the cost of heating bills.

Anne Rowlands, Chief Executive of Railway Housing Association, said: “Our core business is to provide affordable housing for the over-55s and we have done this successfully for over 90 years.

“We already own social rented homes in the East Riding of Yorkshire and with this new development we are looking forward to making a further contribution to providing much-needed affordable homes in the area.

“We are also delighted that our current residents will benefit from moving into new, high quality, energy efficient properties.”

76-year-old, Peter Page, who will be moving into the new apartments, said: “Everyone is very excited about moving into the new homes when they are built. From what we have seen from the plans they are going to be first-class apartments, giving us more room and being very environmentally friendly. We can’t wait.”

Alexandra Ross, partnership manager at Yuill Homes, said: “We’re delighted that construction work has started on our first affordable housing scheme in East Yorkshire. Yuill Homes has a reputation for delivering sustainable communities across the North East and we’re committed to repeating this success here in Swanland village.

“We’re particularly looking forward to working alongside Railway Housing and their residents on such an exciting eco-friendly scheme - that will integrate new sustainable techniques with traditional building methods to provide new high quality homes for residents.”