Choice Housing, recently reached the milestone of 1,000 units currently on sites across Northern Ireland and plan to deliver this housing portfolio by the end of 2025. The flagship projects, located across a number of sought-after locations sees a total investment of £150m, with almost half of these starting in 2022.
As one of Northern Irelands largest housing associations, Choice has invested in building social homes in areas that offer a quality of living, access to local amenities, schools and other services that facilitate sustainable and cohesive communities for people to live in.
Major landmark projects combining mixed tenure schemes* include the iconic Kings Hall site, which will deliver a scheme of 80 units in the heart of South Belfast popular Lisburn Road. The former Park Avenue Hotel in East Belfast will be transformed into a quality housing scheme, providing much needed housing in the lively Belmont area.
Alongside this, a further mixed tenure development in the Waterside area of Derry ~ Londonderry, close to the Crescent Link Retail Park has also progressed this year. Its first phase will provide 200 new social homes to the city alongside homes for private rent and sale.
Choice Group Development Director, Jon Anderson said,
“Whilst we continue to invest significantly in both new and existing homes, significant progress has been made by Choice in securing projects in areas that have historically been dominated by private house builders. Flagship projects such as Kings Hall and Park Avenue provide our tenants with opportunities to live in locations that perhaps traditionally would be associated with higher values and home ownership.
“The waiting list for social housing is significant and Choice is working hard, with partners and statutory agencies to address this as a matter of urgency. These schemes incorporate social housing with affordable / private rental accommodation, with the aim of fostering sustainable, cohesive and inclusive communities.
“The new build programme has had many challenges and we continue to face difficulties around increasing costs, in particular in relation to construction costs. It is testament to the hard work of our development team that we have been able to progress so many projects in spite of these challenges and whilst it is a positive step to mark 1,000 units on site – the real outcome will be when we deliver these homes to tenants who really need them”.
Work has also continued throughout the year on projects at Kilwee, Belvedere and Hannahstown in West Belfast. Other key projects include 49 new homes in Dungannon, 146 social houses in Carrickfergus, 39 social units in Coleraine and 32 units across two sites in Antrim.
Choice Housing provides a mix of supported, sheltered and general needs housing across Northern Ireland, providing over 12,000 homes across the region. Their ‘on site projects’ will provide much needed quality and affordable housing options to meet the needs of our diverse society.
