Old garages are transformed into new council homes

A row of rundown undercroft garages on a Holloway council estate has been transformed into 18 new homes for Islington residents to rent and buy.

Islington Council has converted the garages in Parkhurst Road, N7 - which had previously been underused and attracted anti-social behaviour - into 11 new council homes for social rent, two shared-ownership flats, and five for market sale.

All homes have been offered through Islington's Local Lettings and Local Sales policy. Through this policy, people from the estate have been given first chance at the new homes for rent, with people living and working in Islington getting first chance at the homes for shared-ownership and market sale.

The new flats have high-quality insulation and ventilation that helps
bring down heating costs. As part of the project there have also been benefits for the wider Williamson Street estate including new security doors, new lifts, more green space and improvements to the community centre.

Cllr James Murray, Islington Council's executive member for housing and development, said: "People in Islington, as across London, desperately need more genuinely-affordable housing. We are determined to do something about it, which is why we're building new council homes here and across the borough.

"Under our local lettings policy, people from the local estate were given priority for the new council homes. The new homes to buy and part-buy have also been offered first to people living and working in Islington.

"The new council homes will give local families a genuinely affordable place to live, replacing old garages that were underused and attracted anti-social behaviour. I'd like to thank local residents for putting up with noise and disruption while the work was going on."

Kelly Stevens, who will be moving into one of the new council homes, said: "I'm very excited to be offered one of these new properties - it's the best Christmas present."

The inclusion of homes for sale in the development helps to fund the building of new homes for social rent. Overall nearly three-quarters of homes in the development are affordable housing.

Work at Parkhurst Road was carried out by construction company Mulalley, who also provided refreshments for the community launch event held this morning (Friday 11 December).

Islington is committed to 2,000 new affordable homes between 2015-2019, including 500 new council homes.

For more about new council housing in Islington see www.islington.gov.uk/newbuild