There’s good news for house hunters looking for affordable homes in Shetland as building work has begun on two new Hjaltland Housing Association (HHA) projects which, when complete, will accommodate some 55 tenants.
A development at Fort Road, Lerwick, will have 12 one-bedroom flats which can accommodate 17 people, while across town at Pegasus Place, 14 properties are being built which will house a total of 38 people. The developments, a £3.5million investment by HHA, are part-funded by a £1.25million package from Bank of Scotland, extending the bank’s support to the association to £4.5million, and the Scottish Government.
The Fort Road site, the location of the former Shetland Islands Council housing offices, was gifted to HHA by the local authority. HHA chief executive Bryan Leask said: “This is yet another example of us working in close partnership with the local authority to provide homes to meet the high level of demand in Shetland.
“There are currently 360 people on the housing list for Lerwick and the Fort Road and Pegasus Place developments will make a substantial contribution to reducing those numbers.”
Douglas Spowart, SME Banking, Property Team Relationship Director at Bank of Scotland, said: “It is fantastic to see Hjaltland Housing Association, currently viewed as one of Scotland’s most proactive developers of social housing, mark its 40th year with new homes to support 55 more people in need of social accommodation in Shetland, and is testament to the Association’s commitment to the local community and the wider regeneration of the area.
“To this end we felt it was
extremely important to extend our backing, as part of our 25 year
relationship with HHA, which
will result in more local families in need benefiting from the stability and comfort of this quality housing.”
Designed by Dougie Thomson of Gilberts Architects, the £1.5million Fort Road development, to be named Lyndhurst Place after the original house which formed part of the Excelsior/Moonies Wake bar and nightclub, is being built by Hunter & Morrison. The flats will be connected to the district heating scheme as well as having mechanical ventilation with heat recovery systems installed.
The £1.9million Pegasus Place scheme, to be named Wista (unsheltered, windswept place), will
comprise eight two-person flats, four three-person semi-detached houses and two five-person semi-detached timber-clad houses designed by
Redman & Sutherland. They will
be heated by air source heat pumps to reduce heating costs. Both
developments are scheduled
for completion in September
2016.
