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Russet provide 45 new homes
Russet celebrated the completion of the final phase of a new development in Anchor Road, Rochester offering 45 affordable new homes, for both rent and shared ownership for local people.
Russet built the development in partnership with Medway Council and Crest Nicholson with funding from the Homes and Communities Agency. Russet is part of Circle Anglia one of the UK’s leading providers of affordable housing.
With the rise in property prices over the last decade or so, affordable housing is increasingly welcomed by prospective homeowners and tenants.
The new properties offer a mixture of 20 one and two bed apartments for sale on a shared ownership basis and 25 homes for affordable rent including two, three and four bedroom houses and two bed apartments. Each is built to a high specification and energy efficiency to meet Sustainable Homes Code Level 3 standard and have solar style panels helping residents keep energy bills to a minimum by topping up the electricity.
Maggie Sherlock, Interim Managing Director of Russet, said: “This exciting new project represents Russet’s first major development in Medway and fulfils our promise to meet the challenge to secure new social housing within developments planned for the region.
“The success of the development demonstrates the power of partnerships and is a great example of housing associations joining together with the HCA and Medway Council to build homes that people are proud of and to create places they want to live for generations to come.”
Howard Doe, Medway Council’s Portfolio Holder for Community Services, added: “We are very pleased to have worked with Russet to deliver these new affordable properties for Medway residents.
"Medway Council was recently praised by the Audit Commission for the work it has done to beat its targets on providing affordable homes and we are determined to continue this success by working with partners such as Russet"
Local families have just moved into the last available homes for rent on the development and the properties for shared ownership are now for sale.
For one couple moving into a specially adapted house has changed their life. Shirley Warren is reliant upon a walking frame and wheelchair to get about. They were living in a house which could only be accessed by steep steps and as she had no means to get upstairs she was forced to sleep on a sofa bed and use a commode downstairs. She was also confined to the living room as the layout meant she could not use her walking frame in the home, which was privately owned.
The new house is fully wheelchair compliant and has a lift, adapted bathrooms and the kitchen sink and cooker can be adjusted in height to best suit Shirley in her wheelchair.
Shirley said: “For the first time in years I can get upstairs using the lift and move about my home freely with my walking frame. It’s wonderful to be able to use the bathroom too; at long last I can begin to live a normal life.”
Abigail Raymond, HCA’s Team Leader for North Kent said:
“Providing affordable, high quality homes and creating communities where people want to live is a key priority for us and it is pleasing to see the results of the work done at Anchor Road. I hope future developments in Medway continue to show the positive results that can come from the close working of public and private partnerships.”
