‘This acquisition will allow the council to deliver much needed council homes’
A former office in a prominent Hull building is set to be converted into 16 self-contained flats. Previously the base of an engineering firm, 337-341 Beverley Road could provide essential council housing.
Hull City Council said it has taken steps to purchase the property, which is on the corner of Lambert Street. Meanwhile, the engineering firm Alan Wood & Partners will relocate within the city.
Subject to a successful application for grant funding, the flats would be created for people on the council’s social housing waiting list. A previous plan to convert the offices into HMOs has been dropped.
Portfolio Holder for Economic Renewal, Housing & Organisational Development, Councillor Paul Drake-Davis, said: “This acquisition will allow the council to deliver much needed council homes, and ensure that a building on one of the major routes into the city centre can be put to good use and help with the housing crisis.
“There had been a previous deal in place for this building, where a developer had proposed a large House in Multiple Occupancy (HMO).
“That deal fell through, allowing us to authorise this sensible strategic purchase, which supports the central aims of the council’s Housing Growth Plan – creating and building more affordable homes for those in need.”
The building is located in a part of the city which is imminently going to see housing improvements through the next phase of the council’s Priority Streets programme. As previously revealed, the streets involved will be De Grey, Lambert and Grafton Streets and Princes Road.
Starting next year, the targeted private housing intervention will include improvements to frontages and gardens and the renewal of communal footpaths.
The programme identifies and assesses areas which would substantially benefit from regeneration works. The council said this conversion to high quality, self-contained council homes aligns with the programme’s intention of improving the housing market in those areas.
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