03.06.08 - Searle Mews, Hawkchurch

Local Parish Councillor, Tim Greenshields, undertook the honours and cut the ribbon at the official opening of Magna Housing Association’s (MHA), Searle Mews, in Hawkchurch on Friday (30th May).

Many guests took the opportunity to view this attractive development on the outskirts of this popular East Devon village.

Searle Mews provides six new affordable homes for people living in and around the local parish. Five are rented and one has been sold on a shared ownership basis giving a local person that all important first step onto the home ownership ladder.

One resident, Sally Matthews, said how delighted she was with her new home. “I’m so pleased to be living here. I’ve lived in Hawkchurch all my life and all my family all live locally too. So I was over the moon to finally be able to move into a home with my son, Charlie, in the place where I grew up. The house is just perfect!”

The six homes been jointly funded by Magna Housing Association using private finance and grant from the Housing Corporation following support from East Devon District Council. Built by local contractor, CG Fry & Son, the homes have been constructed using timber frames made from FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) Certified sources. In addition the houses are well insulated and have low energy light fittings, these features should help residents reduce running costs. All of which helped towards accreditation under EcoHomes to the level of ‘very good’. Another great achievement for this scheme which fits its rural setting perfectly.

MHA’s Director, David Aldwinckle, attended the event, “It is fantastic to see that the new homes that we are providing make such a difference to people’s lives. We are committed to our customers and hope that developments like Searle Mews show that we continually try to be their first choice.”

 

NOTES:

EcoHomes is an accreditation system that was brought in by the Housing Corporation and the Building Research Establishment in April 2000. Its aim is to drive forward ‘green’ issues with the Housing Association sector by making it a requirement to obtain EcoHomes status in order to obtain grant funding. EcoHomes assesses a development by considering seven areas; energy, transport, pollution, materials, water, ecology and land use, health and well-being and management of the site and security issues. There are four levels of accreditation; pass, good, very good and excellent.

The Housing Corporation is the government agency that funds new affordable homes and regulates housing associations in England.

Building Research Establishment is owned by the BRE Trust, a registered charity with a mission to champion excellence and innovation in the built environment.

The FSC (Forest Stewardship Council), enables you to buy forest products of all kinds with confidence that you are not contributing to global forest destruction. FSC certified forests are managed to ensure long term timber supplies while protecting the environment and the lives of forest-dependent peoples.

Last updated 03.06.08