Work Underway at Kirby Daniel Court!
There has been a great deal of activity at our development site in Pillgwenlly, as the Pobl development team, in partnership with EnCon Construction, makes the most of an opportunity to drive positive changes in the community.
Local people will remember Kirby Daniel Court, an older person’s scheme in desperate need of investment and modernisation. It consisted of 9 flats and 23 bedsits, but over time, demand for bedsits had significantly decreased, leaving them empty for significant periods of time. Sadly, the run-down building had become an antisocial behaviour hotspot, so something needed to be done.
To remedy the issue, Pobl started by developing a total of 38 brand new apartments on Commercial Street in the centre of Newport. The accommodation, which will become available in the next few months, is modern, close to local amenities and even boasts a rooftop garden area – a vast improvement on the old offering in Pilgwenlly, as seen in the image below…
This gave us scope to redevelop Kirby Daniel Court. Situated in one of the most deprived areas in Wales, we recognised the need to develop the space in a way which would benefit the community. The majority of homes in the area are social and private rented, with the level of owner occupation a great deal lower than in all of the neighbouring wards. In addition to this, the quality of many rented homes is well below standard.
With this in mind, we took the decision to demolish the original buildings at Kirby Daniel Court and make way for a fresh new development of 16 shared ownership properties, all with three bedrooms, ideal for local families to take up the opportunity of owning their own home, whilst ensuring they were affordable.
So far so good – the development is well underway and we’ve been pleased to provide some great community benefits in the process. So far, we’ve worked with local schools, teaching pupils about team work, site safety and offering them the chance to get a taste for a range of construction activities.
Meanwhile, we’ve been working with Careers Wales, offering opportunities to local people to find a way into the construction industry. And once the project is more established, there will be apprentice and employment posts available via our contractors.
All in all, this project has proved to be incredibly rewarding already – and we’re still in the early stages! We’ll be sure to keep you updated on our progress as the months go on, keeping you up to date with the latest developments in the project. We can’t wait to see the new homes and we’re looking forward to helping local families to get their feet on the property ladder.
