Esh Construction has set out £65m worth of housebuilding plans, having acquired a group of sites to develop in the North East and Yorkshire.
The County Durham firm's affordable housebuilding division plans to deliver 300 homes across across Tyneside, Bridlington and Hull.
On Sunderland Road in Gateshead, Esh has secured land for a £20m project to build a 55-home extra care facility, which will replace a derelict library with 43 one and two-bedroom apartments, 12 detached and semi-detached bungalows and a warden's dormer bungalow. In Jarrow, land recently purchased from South Tyneside Council will be used for a £9m scheme providing a mix of two, three and four-bedroom houses and two-bedroom flats.
And in Yorkshire, land deals in Bridlington and Hull will facilitate two projects worth £36m. About two miles outside of Bridlington town centre, Esh will develop a 68-apartment extra care scheme, and in Hull, work is due to start on a 65-home scheme featuring two, three and four-bedroom homes.
The plans follow the launch of what Esh calls its "land-led" development approach in 2019, which includes sourcing developable and, conducting technical, design and construction assessments, taking greater control of land acquisition and the planning and construction phases. It has also highlighted work with Homes England - a non-departmental public body that funds affordable housebuilding - to secure grant funding for registered housing provider clients.
Laura Devaney, land and partnerships director at Esh Construction, said: "Improving the affordable housing offer has been a key driver for the growth of our land-led solution. We have forged important relationships with Homes England, local authorities and registered housing providers and the culmination of these four projects is testament to the work going on behind the scenes to carry out surveys and investigations into site viability.
"With the º£½ÇÊÓƵ Government outlining targets for 1.5m new build homes within the next five years, local authorities have been urged to grant planning permission for approximately 462,500 homes each year. The demand is high for quality developments to be brought forward, and we have another wave of sites across the North East and Yorkshire that are already progressing towards planning submission."
In the six years since the adoption of Esh's development approach, it has completed 32 affordable homes in Leeds; a 124-home and retirement apartments scheme in Askern, Doncaster, and 96 homes in Easington, County Durham, on the site of a former working men's club.
Ms Devaney added: " Across all of our sites, we have worked closely with partners to ensure the local area needs have been fully considered. By securing funding on behalf of our clients through our status as a Homes England Investment Partner, we have also aided scheme viability when bringing the projects to market."
