The Royal Borough of Greenwich has announced it is expanding its council home-building programme, Greenwich Builds, with a commitment to increase the number of homes being created from 750 to 1,750.
All Greenwich Builds homes are made available to local people on the Council’s housing waiting list. Of the original commitment to build 750 council homes, over 730 are now either complete or under construction.
The Leader of the Council, Councillor Anthony Okereke and Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Councillor Aidan Smith, celebrated the announcement with a visit to Speranza Street in Plumstead, where demolition work is taking place to make way for 17 new net zero carbon council homes.
Councillors watched as sections of the former Plumstead Leisure Centre, now replaced by the award-winning Council-built Plumstead Centre, were knocked down.
The Speranza Street scheme consists of two one-bedroom flats, two wheelchair-adapted bungalows and 13 two- and three-bedroom houses. A children’s play area is also incorporated in the design.
Leader of the Royal Borough of Greenwich, Cllr Anthony Okereke, said: “The expansion of Greenwich Builds means that we will now create a total of 1,750 homes for people on waiting lists, more than doubling the size of the programme. The cost-of-living crisis means that the need for truly affordable housing is more urgent than ever, and today’s announcement shows that we are doing everything in our power to respond to that need.”
Royal Borough of Greenwich Member for Regeneration, Cllr Aidan Smith, commented: “Speranza street is a great example of the progress being made under our Greenwich Builds programme, with 730 new council homes now underway or complete. Adding another 1,000 homes for people on our waiting list shows how committed we are to tackling the housing crisis, and to ensuring that every Royal Greenwich resident can afford a secure and stable place to call home.”
The first of the 1,000 additional homes to be confirmed are 265 flats and houses the Council are purchasing from Lovell Homes, to be built as part of the Woolwich Estates redevelopment. In addition, the first 16 locations for the homes which the Council will build itself have been announced. These are distributed across Royal Greenwich, alongside the 33 existing Greenwich Builds sites. Each location will be fully assessed for development viability. Following this, details of homes that will be built will be announced as part of the planning application process.
All Greenwich Builds council homes incorporate sustainability features which both help the environment and deliver lower running costs for tenants. One in 10 homes are wheelchair-adapted, and properties range from one-bedroom apartments to five-bedroom family houses.
Tenants of the Speranza Street development will benefit from living next door to the Plumstead Centre, which opened in 2020 following a multi-million pound investment by the Council, as part of a package of regeneration initiatives in Plumstead. Housed in a Grade II listed building, it is home to a leisure centre, community rooms, café and new library.
Speranza Street is one of five schemes for which Guildmore Homes were recently awarded the delivery contract, with Martin Arnold as employers agent. Other developments include a number of larger five-bedroom family homes as well as one- and two-bedroom flats, all of which are net zero carbon.
