Housing minister in visit to house build
THE minister for housing has heaped praise on the innovative work at a new housing development in the town.
Kris Hopkins visited Kennedy Avenue, Upton Priory, to see 38 new homes being built for Peaks & Plains Housing Trust.
Mr Hopkins heard about a pilot scheme run by Peaks & Plains, which is based in Macclesfield, and Cheshire East Council to encourage more off-site manufacture, a process aimed to speed up the building process and reduce waste.
Timber frames were created off-site in the Kennedy Avenue scheme.
During his visit, the minister spoke with some young people from Macclesfield College, who have been gaining valuable work experience on the site. He also met representatives from Cheshire East Council, the Homes & Communities Agency (HCA) who have partly funded the build, and from Nobles Construction, the contractors who are carrying out the work.
Tim Pinder, chief execu- tive of Peaks & Plains said “We were delighted to welcome Kris Hopkins to our development at Upton Priory. We are committed to providing high quality, affordable housing for our customers, and we were proud to show the Minister the site. He was very interested to hear about our innovative building methods and our plans to build more homes in the area.”
Housing Minister Kris Hopkins added “I was impressed by the innovative designs and quality of the homes at Upton Priory, and was particularly pleased to speak to people who are in work and learning new skills thanks to this development.
“Since 2010 we’ve delivered 445,000 new homes including nearly 200,000 affordable homes but we want to go further. That’s why we’re investing billions in a building pro- gramme set to deliver 165,000 affordable homes between 2015 and 2018 and why I’m keen to place offsite manufacturing techniques at the heart of the construction industry to quickly deliver the high quality new homes communities want “
Meanwhile, Peaks & Plains has committed to spending £20 million on building 170 new homes in the region between 2015-18.