Northumberland house building partnership delivers high quality affordable homes on former colliery site

Award-winning house builder Ascent Homes has completed the first set of properties for North East housing association Bernicia, on the much-needed new affordable housing scheme in Ellington.

Wayside Point, Ellington, is a rural development of new build homes to regenerate part of the former Ellington Colliery site into 99 family houses and bungalows across its first phase. The development is situated in the picturesque village of Ellington, which was the site for the last operational deep mine in the North East before it closed in 2005. Ascent Homes acquired the site from Harworth Estates in 2017, delivering the first new housing estate of this scale in Ellington for many years.

The new development will deliver a selection of two and three-bedroom properties including bungalows and semi-detached houses. This will help meet the growth in demand for new homes in Ellington, support Northumberland County Council’s housing strategy and provide Bernicia with high quality new affordable homes for their tenants.

The development, which is being constructed by Ascent Home’s in-house construction team for Bernicia, will deliver 28 affordable rent homes, comprising nine two bedroom bungalows, 12 two bedroom houses and seven three bedroom houses. Each home is exquisitely styled, inside and out, with high class specification, finishing and balanced use of space, with the attention to detail extending to the professionally landscaped development.

Bernicia is the largest provider and manager of social housing in South East Northumberland, headquartered in Ashington. The company, which builds and manages social housing across North East England, has more than 14,000 homes, and these homes provide housing for more than 60,000 tenants and residents.

Cllr Richard Wearmouth, Chair of Advance Northumberland, said: “Our Ascent Homes team have worked in partnership with Bernicia from the inception of this project to deliver high quality affordable homes in a remarkably short period of time. In doing so we have supported local housebuilding jobs and furthered the regeneration of this ex-coalfield site. 

 “The need to provide high quality housing in rural areas is ever present and I’m delighted that by working together we can provide a positive contribution towards meeting the county’s needs. This sets a real blueprint for future work together on additional schemes around Northumberland.”

Bernicia Chief Executive John Johnston said: “These new homes will help meet the demand for quality new build properties, at an affordable rent, in a popular area with great transport links across Northumberland and to Newcastle.

“The site itself is hugely important in the industrial history of Northumberland and these homes play an important role in bold regeneration plans by providing high quality accommodation for future generations.

“Bernicia is committed to supporting our partners in the North East by building at least 650 new homes for affordable rent and shared ownership across the region by 2023, as part of our strategic corporate plan to provide quality houses people are proud to call home, in communities they want to live in.”

The contract to provide Bernicia with these finished homes commenced in autumn last year and will be completed by Christmas, ensuring properties for affordable rent can be sought in this area from the New Year. The development at Wayside Point also benefits from the construction of a Co-op food store which will be built adjacent to the site and which should open in early 2021.

Find out more about Ascent Homes developments by visiting: https://ascent-homes.co.uk/