Work is underway to renew roofs on the Grade II-listed Byker Estate in a £3.5m project. Esh Living, the social housing division of Esh Construction, was recently awarded the contract to replace the original roofs of 409 properties and complete repairs to their external fabric including brickwork repairs, rainwater goods and door canopy replacements.
Byker Community Trust (BCT) own and manage the Byker Estate and commissioned this project as the existing roof coverings had reached the end of their life span.
Colin Ford, Construction Director at Esh Living, said: “This complex project is something which will ultimately provide the residents with better quality homes and improved thermal comfort. We have worked with BCT to help them secure planning permission for the listed buildings and now we can move forward to provide residents with safer, more efficient living conditions.”
Esh Living has completed several schemes across the Byker Estate; earlier this year their £1.6m refurbishment of Tom Collin’s House won the Constructing Excellence North East Preservation and Rejuvenation Award. The project will be competing for the national prize at Construction Excellence’s National Awards later this year. In 2017, they also converted 10 Hobby Rooms, located across the Byker Estate into high-quality homes, two of which were specifically adapted for wheelchair accessibility.
Colin added: “It was great to receive recognition for the Tom Collin’s House, we were up against stiff competition to win the award. The judges were impressed by the care we took not to compromise the original building design while installing modern safety features.”
Jill Haley, Chief Executive, said: “BCT have already committed over £31m investment into homes on the Estate. This project commits a further £3.5m to ensure that our resident’s homes are improved and better insulated. Specialist staff from Esh are consulting with our residents before any work starts in or around their home, and I have been impressed by the wider social value initiatives that Esh have delivered in Byker for the benefit of all our residents.
