South Somerset Homes spends over £3 million on building and improving homes at New Close, Haselbury Plucknett in partnership with Connaught
11 July 2006

South Somerset Homes are celebrating this week the completion of the development at New Close, Haselbury Plucknett where over £3 million has been spent building new homes and improving existing homes. The building of the new homes and the improvement works have been carried out by Connaught, South Somerset Homes’ partnering contractor. The homes have been built using cutting edge technology with the main body of the home (structural walls, roofing and flooring) being supplied by Space 4 with Connaught completing the internal fitting out and cladding.

Pictured here are the new houses at New Close, Haselbury Plucknett

Fourteen homes have been demolished and 26 new homes have built, which means that 12 extra homes have been provided for local people. They are a mixture of 1-bedroom apartments, two and three bedroom houses with seven being offered for shared ownership and 19 being offered for rent. All of the properties have double-glazing, electric or night storage central heating, a turfed back garden with a small patio as well as courtyard parking. The cost of the new build is £2.24 million.

In addition to the building of the new homes, 19 houses and four bungalows have been completely refurbished. The homes have had new masonry cavity wall insulation installed, which brings them up to current thermal insulation standards. The completion of these improvement works means that the houses are now mortgageable. The cost of the refurbished houses is £1.25 million.

Work started on the refurbished properties in April 2005 and was completed two weeks ahead of schedule in February 2006. Following the completion of the refurbished properties work started on building the new homes in May 2005 and was completed on time in March 2006.

Resident’s Roy and Hilda Manley were the first people to move into one of original homes built at New Close in the 1950’s that have since been demolished in order to build the new homes.

Pictured here are residents Roy and Hilda Hanley

Hilda Manley said, “My husband and I moved into 7 New Close 54 years ago, we moved out of that house whilst our house was being built and have moved back into our new house which is on exactly the same spot as our old house was. The big difference is that now we have a wonderful new home with double-glazing and central heating, which we didn’t have with the old house. We are absolutely thrilled with our new home.”

Shaun (41 years) and Rachel Vincent (25 years) and their two sons Connor (18 months) and Telsa (8 weeks) have moved into one of the three bedroom houses. Shaun was brought up in Haselbury Plucknett and lived at New Close with his mum and dad for 20 years.

Pictured here are residents Shaun and Rachel Vincent with Connor (18 months) and Telsa (8 weeks)

Shaun Vincent said, “I wanted so much to move back to Haselbury where I grew up. Our new house is total fantastic for me and my family. It is like a palace and we just love it.”

Geoff Atkinson, Chief Executive at South Somerset Homes said, “Having visited New Close before the development works began and after visiting when the works had been completed it is truly unrecognisable. The area has been totally transformed from a close of old concrete houses to beautiful brand new and much improved homes. We are confident that it will be a much more pleasant place to live for all of the residents.”

Mike Boon, Connaught’s Yeovil Contracts Manager said, “We believe that people should feel something good is happening in their lives when we arrive. So each home meets the highest standards for insulation using renewable materials in addition to rejuvenating the neighbourhood. We hope that the will residents enjoy their new homes.”

An open day was held at New Close last week to celebrate the completion of this project. .allen@ssh.co.uk

Pictured here at the recent open day are Neil Leggett (Site Manager, Connaught), Graham Cook (Head of Property, South Somerset Homes), Geoff Atkinson (Chief Executive, South Somerset Homes), Jason Dugdale (Space 4), Mike Boon (Contracts Manager, Connaught)