Willmott Dixon starts Kingshurst regeneration

Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council and Solihull Community Housing (SCH) have plans to regenerate Kingshurst, transforming the village centre over several phases to provide new housing and retail space, centred around a new community health and wellness hub.Willmott Dixon has been appointed for the first phase, the construction of 25 social rented homes.Willmott Dixon’s appointment follows its recent role demolishing the main shopping parade and then carrying out enabling works for the new homes. Work to build the three- and four-bedroom family homes as well as one-bedroom maisonettes has started, with groundwork currently under way.Director Dan Doyle said: “We are taking a sustainable, fabric-first approach for this development, using timber frames with a high air tightness score to keep the homes well insulated and extremely economical. Each property will work off air source heat pumps instead of gas, have windows with a low U-value for high thermal efficiency, be fitted with integrated PV and be designed to Secured by Design standard.”Councillor Ian Courts, leader of Solihull Council, said: “This has been a complex scheme from the start, but one we are committed to making sure we get right. The 25 new homes being built here have been designed with the highest energy efficiency standards in mind and will serve as an exemplar for what can be achieved for the rest of the scheme and elsewhere across the borough.”