Multi-million-pound investment in sheltered schemes
More than £13 million pounds will be invested in bringing two of the borough’s sheltered housing schemes up to modern living standards for the benefit of tenants.
Plans to renovate the Dudley Council-run Jack Newell Court in Sedgley and Woodhouse Court in Quarry Bank have been confirmed.
The two properties were built in the mid-1980s and currently provide supported housing in a total of 79 one-bedroom flats and communal living areas for people aged 55 or over.
An affordable housing grant of £4.8m has been secured for the remodelling of Woodhouse Court and Jack Newell Court from Homes England, which together with almost £9m of council investment will provide modern, remodelled schemes.
The apartments will have increased floor space to meet national space standards and improve accessibility, and there will also be a reconfiguration of internal space to create 12 new homes across the two schemes - six apartments at Woodhouse Court and six at Jack Newell Court, all providing much needed new housing for older people in the borough.
The internal layout of all the flats will be improved, with each flat having its own shower facilities and some flats will have balconies added. The communal kitchens will be enlarged, the communal lounge redesigned, and a wellbeing room included.
The transformation will also include rewiring, heating upgrades, lighting improvements, new lifts and fire alarm system upgrades.
For the work to go ahead as quickly and safely as possible, the council has worked closely with the tenants living in both schemes who have temporarily moved out of their properties. The council is fully supporting tenants in this process.
Work is expected to start on site this autumn and residents will be moving back in from autumn next year.
Councillor Laura Taylor-Childs, cabinet member for housing and community services, said:
An independent assessment of the council’s sheltered housing stock identified Jack Newell and Woodhouse as ripe for development and worthy of investment.
We’ve carried out award-winning renovations previously as Margaret Vine and Holloway Court sheltered housing schemes and I know we can replicate it.
This investment gives us the opportunity to improve the living standards for our tenants and secure the long-term futures of the buildings.
We thank those tenants who we have supported to move out temporarily, their support means we can carry out the work quicker and they don’t have to live through the disruption of the building works.
They will be given priority to return and when they do, I’m confident they will be pleased with the end result.