Brand new housing development welcomes first new tenants with two more expected to complete soon

All the new developments form part of Leeds City Council’s housing growth programme which will see 1500 new council homes built across the city by 2025.

Constructed by Wilmott Dixon on behalf of the council the Healey Croft development, which is based in Tingley, is built on a former brownfield site and features nine new modern and fully insulated properties, which include five two-bed and three three-bed properties.

The properties are all no-gas and fully equipped with ground source heat pumps and solar panels in a bid to address both the council’s low carbon aspirations and targets for a zero-carbon city by 2030. Residents will also benefit from significantly warmer homes in comparison to the average private property due to being fully insulated.

Silk Mill Drive, which is expected to complete in August, is also built on a former brownfield site which was formally four maisonettes. These were demolished following a gas explosion in 2017. The Silk Mill Drive scheme consists of two three-bed houses and is being delivered in tandem with the larger Meynell Approach scheme in Holbeck which consists of 28 properties. The scheme has been developed to achieve high quality housing with the best possible energy efficiency measures. These include high levels of air tightness to prevent unnecessary heat loss, low energy lighting and efficient hot water heating systems.

A further development at Heights Lane in Armley is due to complete in the following weeks. This development features a total of 12 new properties.

Councillor Mohammed Rafique, Leeds City Council’s executive member for environment and housing, said:

“It’s brilliant to see so many new property developments come into fruition. Meeting the city’s housing needs and providing high quality affordable homes in thriving and inclusive communities, with appropriate support for those who need it is a key priority for the council.

“This month we have launched our new housing strategy which sets out our ambitions for the next five years. Significant investment will be going into the social housing stock to maintain and improve quality homes as well as making them more energy efficient.”

Councillor Helen Hayden, Leeds City Council’s executive member for infrastructure and climate, said:

“It was great to see the new development at Healey Croft this week and I’m looking forward to more developments completing very soon. Ensuring that people live in warm, fully insulated properties is absolutely vital given the current cost of living crisis, as well as our ongoing commitment to addressing the climate emergency. These homes certainly work towards our ambition of achieving that. Across all these schemes, the importance of local biodiversity has been taken into consideration and to help encourage wildlife, openings in fences and gates will be provided for hedgehogs to travel between gardens and open spaces and bat and bird bricks have also been incorporated across the sites.”

Chris Yates, Yorkshire director for Willmott Dixon, contractors of the Healey Croft development, said:

“We are really proud to support Leeds City Council in delivering these energy efficient family homes. In doing so we have made sure this is a project built for the local community by the community, investing £1.9m with businesses based within 20 miles of the project.

“Our focus is all about how we can deliver brilliant buildings, transform lives, strengthen communities and enhance the environment. Our team has been delighted to create a number of work experience opportunities and to visit hundreds of local primary, high school and college students, exploring sustainability and innovation in construction, as well as showcasing careers in our industry.”