Brighton garages demolished as part of £100m affordable home project

Published by Max Salsbury for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Development, Local Government

Brighton and Hove City Council has been demolishing garages on housing estates as part of its £100m house building programme.

The council plans to build 29 new affordable homes on former garage sites across the city initially, which it believes it can deliver at a cost of around £5m. Over 500 new homes are planned in the long term.

The move follows June's council-hosted Housing Summit, which brought together 100 experts to try to identify solutions to the city's housing challenges.

The council has earmarked £1m this year to develop plans to build more homes across the city as part of a four-year house building drive to deliver around 560 homes.

Central to the programme are energy efficient properties that reduce bills as well as ‘Lifetime’ homes that are wheelchair friendly so that people can live independently for longer. The city faces rising costs in housing older residents with high support needs who often live in expensive residential care.

Chair of the Housing Committee, Cllr Liz Wakefield, said: “This is an opportunity to build new homes that are not only eco-friendly but save us millions in the long term because they are wheelchair friendly and have features that mean they are adaptable to the changing needs of residents. Because of this older residents with high support needs can live as independently for as long as possible and avoid expensive residential care.

“We are identifying creative solutions to the housing challenges we face and at the same time making sure new homes are energy efficient and building projects see young residents gain vital skills in the building trade as apprentices.”