New homes open door to fresh start

Date published: 05 August 2014


SHOLVER is now home to 12 new families after First Choice Homes handed over the keys to a dozen new properties.

The mix of two, three and four-bedroom houses have been built with funding from the Homes and Community Agency (HCA).

The properties, 25 per cent more energy-efficient than most houses, feature better insulation, boilers and windows, flow-restrictors on taps, low-energy lighting and smart meters to monitor energy use.

Jobs

The homes also have garden sheds with in-built cycle stores, rotary lines to promote drying outdoors, water butts in the back garden to collect rainwater and bird/bat boxes to encourage wildlife.

Cath Green, chief executive of First Choice, said: “These houses are not only providing high-quality affordable housing for local residents, but have also provided jobs for Oldham and the surrounding area.

“For every £1 spent on housing, £2.41 is generated in the wider economy and every new home creates, on average, 2.3 jobs.

“Our Sholver site has 88 per cent local labour including apprentices, which means 88 per cent of the workers on site live within a 20-mile radius of Oldham.”

The 12 new properties are part of First Choice’s commitment to building 48 new homes across Oldham, including 27 in Sholver, 11 in Werneth, four in Royton and four in Chadderton.

More new builds will be available soon and all will be advertised on the First Choice website. Contact the One Point housing options centre on 0161- 770 6699 for more information.