Construction begins on affordable homes in Brighton & Hove

Construction of 346 low cost homes for people living and working in Brighton & Hove is well underway, with the first homes due to be ready in summer 2023.Homes for Brighton & Hove, a partnership of Brighton & Hove City Council and the Hyde Group, is working with PMC Construction to build 242 homes on land to the east of Coldean Lane on the north eastern edge of the city, and 104 more on the site of the former Belgrave Day Centre in Portslade.More than half the homes will be available for rent and the rest will be available to buy through a shared ownership scheme.Homes for Brighton & Hove held two site visits for Brighton & Hove councillors at the end of November, so they could see first-hand the progress being made, and meet the team developing the new homes.Both sites were identified as suitable for the development of housing in the City Plan.The Coldean homes will be a mix of one, two and three bedroom flats in six blocks of five to seven storeys, making the best use of the sloping 3.3ha site. There’ll also be a number of wheelchair accessible homes on the ground floors.At Portslade, the one, two and three bedroom flats will be built in two blocks of four to seven storeys.Homes for Brighton & Hove is taking a fabric-first approach to sustainable and environmental design – the flats will be well-insulated and airtight, reducing energy needed to heat them and keeping bills low.Overall, they’ll be 19% more energy efficient than current Building Regulation requirements.