West Brom MP visit marks progress on development which will deliver 147 affordable homes

GreenSquareAccord (GSA), one of England’s largest providers of housing and care, is delivering 147 homes for affordable and social rent on the site of a former gas works on Swan Lane, West Bromwich. The homes are being built by Morro Partnerships and will comprise one and two-bedroom apartments alongside two- and three-bedroom houses.

On September 19, recently-elected West Bromwich MP, Sarah Coombes visited the Swan Lane development.

Commenting on the visit, Sarah Coombes MP said: “It was fantastic to visit the site where 147 much needed affordable homes are being delivered in West Bromwich. The new government is committed to getting the homes we desperately need built right across the country. The remediation of contaminated former industrial sites, like Swan Lane, will be key to delivering homes across our region.”

Sarah was given a tour of the site and briefed on the progress that Morro has made at Swan Lane, which includes the demolition of the buildings on the former gas works, removal of concrete foundations and the treatment of contaminated land and water on the site.

The site has been levelled out with sewage works beginning to be installed. The next stage of construction will see highways infrastructure put in place.

Carl Taylor, Assistant Director of New Business and Growth at GSA said: “We are continuing to reclaim a contaminated former industrial site to provide much needed affordable homes for West Bromwich. It was a moment of great pride to show Sarah the progress made to date at Swan Lane. I am grateful to GSA colleagues and Morro Partnerships for all their hard work.”

“Our Swan Lane scheme will meet a variety of local housing needs by providing 41 two- and 24 three-bedroom houses and 17 one- and 65 two-bedroom apartments.”

Chris Timmins, Managing Director at Morro Partnerships, said: “Working with great partners like GreenSquareAccord is incredibly important to us at Morro as we work towards being better community and better environment makers.

“The site at Swan Lane is an untapped space which has the potential to become a great place to live for so many families, so to be working towards so many high-quality, energy-efficient and sustainable homes while meeting the increased demand for affordable housing in West Bromwich is rewarding.

“Sarah Coombes MP’s visit to the development was most welcome, and for her to see the fantastic progress of these much-needed homes and discuss our plans for the thriving community it will become was fantastic.”

Sandwell Council is a key partner on the Swan Lane development that assisted with a successful bid for a £3.2million grant from the Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership to support the delivery of the scheme. This funding contributed towards the significant decontamination of the land.

Councillor Peter Hughes, Sandwell Council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Infrastructure, said

“This new development will support Sandwell’s vision to have many new homes meeting a full range of housing needs in attractive neighbourhoods and close to key transport routes

“Sandwell needs new areas of quality housing such as this in places where people want to live and bring up their families and can easily get to jobs across the region by public transport.”

Sustainability has been designed into the heart of the Swan Lane development with plans to plant plenty of trees and install electric vehicle charging points throughout. The development will contain large open spaces complete with a pond to support local wildlife.

The new homes at Swan Lane will be constructed using prefabricated closed-panel timber frames supplied by LoCaL Homes – an award-winning, low-carbon manufacturing facility based in Walsall.

Lee Cox, Technical Manager at LoCaL Homes said: “We are proud to be delivery partners for the Swan Lane development which will see new high-quality homes built using materials manufactured in the Black Country for a community in the heart of the Black Country.

“By constructing the houses using LoCaL Homes’ Eco-200 timber frame panel system in a quality-controlled factory environment, the overall speed of construction will be accelerated thus resulting in quicker handovers and earlier occupancy.

“As the homes’ fabrics are made from a sustainable material it will capture more carbon than traditional methods of construction and will be much more thermally efficient. This will subsequently help with the running costs resulting in lower fuel bills for customers.”

The Swan Lane development is well- served by public transport with the Black Lake Metro stop less than 100 metres away and several popular bus routes in operation close by. The development is also located close to the George Salter Academy, several supermarkets and other conveniences in both West Bromwich and Great Bridge town centres.

By Andrew Tromans - contributor