The 54 new homes provide a mix of 33 social rented and 21 mid-market rented homes, at a total cost of around £8m, with £3.8m provided by the Scottish Government through affordable housing investment funding.
The project was developed by KHA and the social rented homes were transferred to Ochil View Housing Association on completion as part of a collaborative transfer alliance agreement between the two associations. The mid-market rented units were developed by KHA for Kingdom Initiatives.
The final homes were handed over to Ochil View at the end March and a visit of representatives from both Kingdom and Ochil View was arranged to the site to view the completed project.
Brian McDermott, Managing Director, Marshall Construction, commented: "It's very pleasing to see these homes completed. The project had its unique set of challenges including Covid disruptions, which the construction team addressed proactively. The current industry labour and material challenges were overcome through collaborative working with the Client, Design Team and our supply chain.
The success of the project was as a result of employing a ‘no-blame' culture and engaging with all parties to deliver a quality product for the clients tenants.
Linda Leslie, Kingdom's Chair, said: "It was a privilege to visit Elm Grove Alloa. Through the close collaboration and partnership working between the two housing associations the houses have been designed, built and finished to an exceptionally high standard. They provide a mix of energy-efficient homes for families with a range of housing needs. The artwork that the pupils from St. Mungo's Primary School created has been captured in the sculptures that celebrate the contribution of these new homes to the local community."
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The high-quality specification includes homes that have been built to silver level sustainability standards, which has been achieved through enhanced insulation standards, solar panels, mechanical extract ventilation and waste water heat recovery systems. The houses have been designed to housing for varying needs standards and gold secured by design accreditation standards.
The new project provides new homes to meet a wide range of housing needs including housing designed to amenity and wheelchair standard, along with 2, 3 and 4 bedroom family homes.
Anne Smith, Acting Chief Executive from Ochil View said: "The mix of house types will meet a wide range of housing needs in the Alloa area and the wheelchair designed homes have been designed to meet the particular needs of identified families, which will provide sustainable housing for many years to come. The design, quality and specification is excellent and the feedback from tenants who have already moved into their new homes has been very positive."
The project was designed by Smith Scott Mullen Architects and the construction was undertaken for Kingdom by Marshall Construction, who also delivered community benefits including job and apprenticeships, work placements and initiatives with the local primary school.
Bill Banks, Kingdom's Group Chief Executive said: "Development of new housing projects can be complex and this project is an excellent example of what can be achieved through a collaborative approach between housing associations. The cost of developing new homes is increasing, it's difficult to achieve the new quality standards and procurement requirements can be challenging, however through the partnership approach we applied we were able to deliver high-quality new homes, without compromising standards, which meet the objectives of both Associations."
Bill added: "At Kingdom we pride ourselves on the high quality of the homes we develop and much of this is down to the regular on-site inspections we incorporate into the process. It was good to catch up with Alastair Adams on the site visit. Alastair was the Association's Clerk of Works at Elm Grove and this was Alastair's final project before he retires at the end of March, after over almost 30 years service with Kingdom, we all wish Alastair a long and happy retirement."
Bill presented Alastair with a Corporate gift to mark his retirement at the site visit. Alastair said he had enjoyed all of his years working with Kingdom and was pleased he had been involved in delivering so many high quality housing projects, including the Elm Grove development.
