House building back on schedule

Some 275 homes, being built by the council on the back of a £33m grant, will be completed by the end of the month. A further 56 will be finished by next March.

One contractor– Quibell & Son (Hull) Ltd – which was working on four sites, went into administration last December. Three sites were taken on by other contractors and will be finished by this year’s deadline, but the fourth, a dozen flats at Beverley’s Mariners Court, will be delayed until September.

The new homes, which are aimed at the elderly in an effort to release larger council houses, are fitted with various “green” features to cut energy bills, including photo-voltaic panels that react to the light. The electricity they produce should bring in £70,000 a year for the council. The properties have been built on 32 council-owned sites across the East Riding, including 149 in Bridlington and 57 in Goole.

A report discussed yesterday said the programme was “delivering energy-efficient homes of a quality which the private sector cannot economically deliver.”