New homes are a step closer in St Austell

Cedar Woods consists of 19 houses and flats and is situated to the rear of Polkyth Leisure Centre on land formerly owned by Cornwall Council.

Work on the project stopped in October 2009 when the contractor, Swan Country Homes, went into administration. Since then it has come to light that there are a number of structural problems with the construction. Detailed tests and investigations have concluded that the existing buildings should be at least partially demolished.

In order to ensure that the new homes are of the highest quality and to provide the best standard of accommodation for Devon & Cornwall Housing residents the decision has been made to fully demolish the existing buildings. The work will start soon and take around four weeks to demolish. During demolition building materials will be separated and around 90 per cent of the building materials will be recycled.

Demand for affordable housing in St Austell is high and there is an expectation that there will be a large number of applications for these new homes.

Richard Connolly, Devon & Cornwall Housing’s Group Director of Investment said: “We worked with Cornwall Council and Swan Country Homes to try to prevent Swan entering administration. More recently we have had a number of meetings with officers at Cornwall Council to help get this project back up and running. We’re pleased to confirm the appointment of Kier Living and look forward to seeing this project completed.”

Spokesperson at Cornwall Council said: “Cornwall Council welcomes the re-start to construction at the Cedar Woods scheme in St Austell which will provide 19 new affordable homes to rent for local people. Since construction stalled in 2009, Devon & Cornwall Housing has worked in conjunction with officers at Cornwall Council to overcome the many challenges facing the scheme and we are delighted the scheme is now back on track. There is a strong need for more affordable housing in St Austell and this scheme will help to meet some of that need. If you are interested in living at Cedar Woods, please register with Cornwall Homechoice. It is expected the new homes will be ready in spring 2012.”

John Titcombe, Kier Living’s Regional Manager said; “Kier Living are delighted to have been appointed as principal contractor for the Cedar Woods project, which is going to be a challenging fast moving scheme. Devon & Cornwall Housing has a great reputation for building affordable, quality homes and we hope our partnership here will lead to us working together on many more projects in the future.”

The 19 homes on the site are a mixture of 1, 2 and 3 bedroom properties. All of the homes will be affordable and will be offered for rent. The project has been supported with investment from both Cornwall Council and the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), the Government’s housing and regeneration agency. The HCA invested around £1.5million into the scheme.