Building for the future
It’s been another fantastic and busy year for the Great Places development team as we continue our mission to address the housing crisis.
In the last financial year, we have built more than 550 homes and next year will be even busier as it’s our ambition to build more than 750 homes.
The last year has seen us involved in a couple of significant projects.
We cut the ribbon on new £19 million housing developments across Blackburn.
In total, 138 new homes have been built with 123 of those being offered for affordable rent and 15 offered for sale through shared ownership on sites at Shakespeare Way in Griffin as well as at Bowen Street, Shorrock Lane and New Wellington Street in Mill Hill – which has a road named after former Blackburn Rovers and England striker Fred Pickering who lived in the area.
And in Manchester, Councillor Bev Craig, Leader of Manchester City Council marked the start of work on our £10 million redevelopment of the iconic former Ancoats Dispensary into affordable homes.
Cllr Craig joined our Chief Executive Matthew Harrison at the site of the former hospital, set to be transformed into 39 one and two bed apartments available for affordable rent.
The plans, delivered in partnership with Manchester City Council, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), Homes England, and Contractors Eric Wright, will look to preserve as much of the original Grade 2 listed facade as possible.
The Dispensary, close to Manchester city centre, was built in 1874 to provide healthcare for the city’s growing population alongside the Royal Infirmary.
The local landmark remained in use until 1989 but has been vacant until now. The development is the first project in a new coordinated phase by Great Places, Manchester City Council and Manchester Life to deliver over 400 new homes for a broad range of housing needs.
These are just a couple of examples of our packed programme and we have a very ambitious development programme over the coming decade as we try and bring quality affordable housing to the areas and people who need it most.