A mix of social rent bungalows for older residents and affordable rent houses for families.

Housing Association
Severnside Housing

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Partners
Homes & Communities Agency; Shropshire Council; Bomere Heath Parish Council; SJ Roberts Construction Ltd (contractor); Churchill Hui (architects)

Scheme outline
Located in the rural village of Bomere Heath in Shropshire, Chapel Close was a former home to 18 bedsit bungalows as part of a former sheltered housing scheme.

The bungalows were deemed no longer fit for purpose and, following consultation with the existing elderly residents, the Parish Council, and the local community, it was concluded that they should be replaced with accommodation more suited to the residents current and long term needs, together with some family housing to create a ‘more traditional’ housing environment.

Regeneration began in March 2013 with the phased demolition of the 18 bungalows, which were replaced with:

Tenures:
Social Rent
6 x 1 bedroom bungalows 6 x 2 bedroom bungalows
Completion was in February 2015.

Affordable Rent
3 x 2 bedroom houses 3 x 3 bedroom houses

Need
Bomere Heath falls within the “Central Spatial Zone” of Shropshire. One of the key identified issues for this rural area is the “significant housing affordability issues”. Shropshire Council’s Sustainable Community Strategy for 2010-20 lists the needs of a growing, but ageing population as a key issue.

Within Shropshire Council’s Core Strategy document, it is recognised that affordability of homes is a problem, with an ever-increasing waiting list of young families and elderly persons resulting. At the time Severnside Housing were consulting for Chapel Close the housing need stood at around 9,000 homes. Alike other rural settlements, there was ‘significant pent up’ housing needs in Bomere Heath to help support/sustain the local services.

To address these aspects, Chapel close delivered a mix of dwellings for both elderly residents and young families. The mixture of tenures has also helped address the affordability of such dwellings in this rural area.
Severnside successfully re-housed the existing elderly residents into more modern, eco-friendly accommodation to enjoy better quality homes with benefits such as, reduced heating bills, improved space standards, level access facilities etc, at the same time providing quality affordable family homes in this rural settlement.

Severnside is proud to have invested in the provision of these new homes for the existing elderly and new residents and that by doing so we have assisted with the sustainability of the village.

Good practice
The homes comprise of timber-frame construction and were all built to Lifetime Homes, Secured by Design and Code for Sustainable Homes (Level 3) standards, including the provision of supplemental solar thermal water heating.

Severnside’s two apprentice carpenters helped construct the homes under the direction of the building contractors as part of a secondment agreement.

Funding
Total cost – £1.66 million, partly funded through the HCA National Housing Programme 2011-15 (£398, 000).

“Severnside is extremely proud of the beautiful new homes at Chapel Close. We have built a mix of bungalows and houses to address housing need in the local area and created a vibrant and balanced community” Severnside’s Chief Executive, Sarah Boden

“It was such an honour to be asked to officially open Chapel Close and welcome all the new residents; I hope they will be as happy here as I have been for the last 25 years. The vintage tea party was really lovely and I enjoyed catching-up with my neighbours.” Mrs Poppy Nicholls, resident at Chapel Close for over 25 years and guest of honour at the ribbon cutting ceremony in April 2015

“We are delighted to be handing over another successful scheme in partnership with Severnside Housing. We managed to forge a special relationship with the residents at Chapel Close and to experience the positivity and satisfaction shown at the Grand Opening made this a particularly rewarding project.” Mike Sambrook, Managing Director, SJ Roberts Construction