Affordable housing provider Stonewater has completed four new three-bedroom family homes for affordable rent in Poundbury’s North East Quadrant, on the outskirts of Dorchester.
The new homes on Liscombe Street are part of a small mixed development of nine affordable rented and five shared ownership homes around the North East Quadrant, which Stonewater is delivering in partnership with The Duchy of Cornwall and West Dorset District Council. The North East Quadrant is the third phase of Poundbury, an urban extension to Dorchester, which when completed, will provide 505 new homes, mixed-use commercial buildings and a public park.
Since 2012, Stonewater has delivered 63 affordable homes across the Poundbury scheme and is set to hand over the final five affordable rented homes in the North East Quadrant next summer. The construction of the development has provided apprenticeship opportunities with two bricklayers, one plasterer, one carpenter and two electricians currently working on site.
“The high cost of renting a home in the Dorchester area is making it very difficult for people on local wages to find affordable rental housing close to the town, their families and their work,” said Jonathan Layzell, Stonewater’s Executive Director for Development. “We hope these new Stonewater homes will help address this problem and provide four local families with a place they can call ‘home’ this Christmas.”
Each new affordable Stonewater home has been built to a Code for Sustainable Homes Level 3 equivalent standard, to help keep residents’ overall energy bills as low as possible.
Councillor Tim Yarker, West Dorset District Council’s Executive Portfolio Holder for Housing, added: “Affordable housing makes an essential contribution to the sustainability of the local community. These homes help to assist local housing need and are a prime example of how well-designed high-quality affordable homes can be built in the area.”
Poundbury is an urban extension to the Dorset county town of Dorchester, built on Duchy of Cornwall land according to the principles of architecture and urban planning as advocated by H.R.H. The Prince of Wales. It currently houses 3,000 people in a mix of 1,500 private and affordable homes, and provides employment for over 2,100 people working in the 185 shops, cafes, offices and factories. Poundbury has been carefully designed to give priority to people, rather than cars, and where commercial buildings are mixed with residential areas, shops and leisure facilities to create a walkable community.
