South Somerset Homes and Rok building affordable homes for local people in Barton St David
16 May 2005

South Somerset Homes and their building partner Rok are on site staking their claim to build a home for £60,000 in response to the challenge laid down by the Deputy Prime Minister in his “Homes for All” 5-year plan. They aim to be the first in the country to provide 2 high specification, long-term sustainable and affordable homes of traditional appearance for local people. These homes will be in the rural and attractive village of Barton St. David in Somerset. The contract for the work confirms that the build cost beats Mr. Prescott’s magic figure.

Pictured here is Geoff Atkinson (Chief Executive, South Somerset Homes) and Chris Hyde (Area Director, Rok) outside the 60k house

South Somerset Homes have worked with housing association partners to use a precision engineered off-site manufactured timber frame as the fulcrum around which the homes will be completed in half the time period of to traditional methods. The homes will be ready for occupation 14 weeks after start on site and it is the speed of construction and the consequent reduction in the cost of labour and professional fees, which is the primary source of efficiency.

South Somerset Homes has also designed a house type specifically with demographic trends in mind. Up to three-quarters of households are childfree and the number of single person households continues to grow significantly. South Somerset Homes have created a small household home, which it has called ‘The Cary’ after a river in Somerset, but at 62 sq. metres, the home is far from small per se.

Geoff Atkinson, Chief Executive at South Somerset Homes said, “The Cary is a good fit to local housing market conditions whereby large numbers of households have been hit by the double whammy of low paid employment and high house prices. Households of all age ranges have simply been priced out by five years of rapid house price inflation in attractive rural locations such as Barton St. David.

The good news from South Somerset Home’s perspective is that when the Cary is offered for shared ownership, its relatively modest market value means that it is affordable, and it provides a first rung on the property ladder, for the large proportion of local families with incomes from around £14,000 per year. These are exactly the families for whom the Government’s Homes for All plan aims to provide affordable housing solutions. We regard the creation of an affordable solution for these citizens as even more important than breaking Mr. Prescott’’s £60,000 barrier.”

Rok Area Director Chris Hyde said: "We are delighted to be using our expertise to help our partners with this exciting project which not only meets the challenge set by John Prescott but also meets the needs of our communities to house local people in homes of their choice."

South Somerset Homes already has an initial 40 ‘Carys’ in its development pipeline, which will provide at least 2500 affordable homes over the next 10 years.

Pictured here is Chris Hyde (Area Director, Rok) and Geoff Atkinson (Chief Executive, South Somerset Homes) inside the 60k house