New homes for Edge Hill

Edge Hill residents have thrown a huge housewarming party to celebrate the completion of the first two phases of a £19 million housing development.

Williamson Place, which benefited from a Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) KickStart grant of £1.2 million, has already picked up a national accolade, earning a ‘Gold’ award Building for Life Accreditation to Deliver Great Places to Live.

By the time the six-phase scheme is completed in late 2012, 167 new homes will have been built, providing a diverse range of properties, from bungalows to two, three and four-bedroom homes.

The development is part of the Wavertree Zone of Opportunity and falls within the Kensington Renewal Area. The completion of the work is a major success story for the community, as local people have played an instrumental role in making the development a reality.

Led by the Edge Hill Housing and Issues Focus Group, they have been champions for regeneration and better housing in the area since 2003, when residents began working with the council and the city produced its ‘Kensington Blueprint’, laying out the regeneration and housing renewal plans for the area.

They have since worked closely with housing developers Bellway and the city council to drive forward the delivery of the scheme and work began on the homes in 2008.

Work was guided by a Design Working Group – comprising of representatives from the community, the city council, Bellway, Halsall Lloyd Architects and CABE – which met regularly with local residents, over a six- month period.

Williamson Place is the fifth new housing development on site in the Wavertree Zone of Opportunity, where 531 new homes will be built by the end of 2012. The council’s housing renewal team is working with its partners Bellway, Lovell, Riverside Housing and the HCA.