Work starts on new homes at Kersfield Road, East Putney
The Leader of Wandsworth Council, Cllr Ravi Govindia and the senior team at Wates including Tim Wates, Director and David Allen, Chief Executive – donned their hard hats to celebrate the start of work on 41 new homes on Kersfield Road, East Putney.
Wandsworth Council has engaged Wates to build out this council housing scheme, comprising 14 social rent homes and 27 for market sale, ranging from one to three bedrooms. All homes are being built for local residents and workers.
These new homes are part of the council’s Housing for All programme, which will deliver 1,000 homes by 2027. All the homes built will be prioritised for those who live and work in the borough with 60% of them being affordable. The market sale units at Kersfield Road will directly fund the social rent homes being built on the site, making the Council’s £80m investment in Housing for All go that bit further to deliver homes that meet people’s needs across the borough.
The scheme will also provide new play spaces for young children and improvements to the landscaping around the new development and to existing buildings. This is part of the council’s commitment to deliver wider benefits to existing communities through its development programme.
In addition, Wates will spend £20,000 with local social enterprises including Belu Water, Kenny Waste Management and Commercial Foundations and 10% of the total project sum will be spent with local businesses.
Five apprenticeship job opportunities for local people to work on a development in their borough will be created, along with nine work experience placements, giving local people the chance to take their first steps into construction.
All homes will meet the latest design, sustainability and size standards. One home is fully wheelchair accessible and all the others are built to fully adaptable standards. They will be more energy efficient, with higher levels of insulation, and buildings will have biodiverse roofs. Electric vehicle charging points will be added to the car park.
I am really excited to see work beginning here, in my Ward of East Putney. It’s part of our wider commitment to build 1,000 new homes across the borough for local people to buy or rent. I’m proud to be delivering on our promises for people not only here but across Wandsworth.
The project also brings other benefits around play space, landscaping, employment and training and a boost to local businesses. I can’t wait to welcome the new families to my Ward.”
Councillor Ravi Govindia
Leader of Wandsworth Council
The Kersfield Road scheme is designed to meet the needs of local people and we are keen to create a positive legacy in the borough of Wandsworth. This means using local businesses to supply the site, partnering with nearby schools and charities and working to improve skills for people in the area.
We are just starting a ‘Construct a Career’ programme, which offers three-weeks of free pre-employment training for people interested in a career in construction. This is just one example of the many initiatives that we will be running over the coming months.”
Glen Roberts
Operations Director at Wates Residential