A £4.5m project to build 14 new affordable rent homes on the site of former garages on the Cherry Orchard estate in Charlton is under way.
Charlton Triangle Homes, part of the Peabody Group, is working with the Royal Borough of Greenwich and the Mayor of London on the 100% affordable Blaker Court scheme. Delayed by the pandemic, the project began this week with a ‘ground-breaking’ ceremony (see image attached) attended by the leader of the council, Cllr Danny Thorpe, Charlton’s tenant board members, representatives of the community, and the builders.
The new one-, two- and three-bedroom homes will be offered to people on the Royal Borough of Greenwich’s housing waiting list, which has more than 20,000 households registered. Rents will be at London Affordable Rent (LAR) which is set by the Mayor of London at around half of the average market rent.
East-London-based builders Kind & Co will lead the construction and work with the council’s Greenwich Local Labour and Business (GLLaB) service on job and apprenticeship opportunities. A series of engagement activities with the community are planned throughout the 18-month project.
Since taking on the estate from the Royal Borough of Greenwich in 1999, Charlton Triangle has invested over £25m in refurbishment, development, and community regeneration projects. The New Leaf Centre is celebrating its 10-year anniversary this year and continues to help people find work, training, healthy-living advice, counselling, wellbeing programs, welfare rights, debt, and money advice. The Centre provided and delivered over 2,500 food parcels to Charlton Triangle residents during the pandemic.
The estate is also celebrating the return of Charlton’s five-week Summer Programme, with a hybrid model this year delivering both face-to-face sessions and online sessions.
Nigel Pierce, Managing Director at Charlton Triangle Homes said: “After extensive consultation locally, and after a really difficult period for everyone, we are so pleased to be getting started on this vital project. These much-needed new homes will be a welcome addition to the estate and we can’t wait to welcome the new members of the community when the time comes.
“We’re
also over the moon that our summer programme is back with things for our young
people to do every single day of the week throughout August.
“My thanks go to the Royal Borough of Greenwich and the Mayor of London
for their support not only on this project but on the wider regeneration of the
estate over the last 20 years which continues to make a real impact and
positive difference in people’s lives.”
Cllr Danny Thorpe, Leader of Royal Borough of Greenwich added: “It’s great to be working with partners like Peabody and Charlton Triangle so that in addition to building our own Greenwich Builds homes we are also able to offer these 14 new homes to residents on our housing waiting list. These homes are going to make a huge difference in the community.”