My RHA
New homes
27th January 2021 | posted in News
Residents have moved into their homes at a £2.4 million new affordable housing development in the centre of Darlington.
Railway Housing Association has welcomed people to its newest scheme, 16 two-bedroom bungalows in Barton Street.
The homes adjoin another development, known as The Sidings, completed by the Association in 2019 and which included the sympathetic restoration of a listed railway engine shed from 1844.
All the homes at Barton Street have been let to people aged 60 and over.
Among the residents to move in are Rose and Andrew Inglis, aged 74 and 75 respectively. They downsized from the three-bedroom family home they lived in for 49 years.
Rose says: “I was struggling with the stairs in our old home and someone we knew lived in a Railway Housing Association bungalow, so they recommended we put our name down on the waiting list.
“We moved into our new home just before Christmas and it’s the best thing we could have done; it’s lovely.”
Paul Summers, 67, has an old army friend to thank for alerting him and his wife Carol to their new home at Barton Street.
He explains: “I served in the Parachute Regiment with my friend who lives at The Sidings and he told me how nice the bungalows were, so we were delighted when we discovered our application had been successful.
“Carol was dubious about leaving our other home but now she’s here and doesn’t have to cope with two flights of stairs each day, she thinks it’s fantastic.”
Karilyn and Michael Foley, aged 67 and 76 respectively, also recently moved in and have settled in immediately.
Karilyn says: “We were renting a bungalow privately, but it never felt like home but this one does. and we love it.”
Another happy resident is Angela Lowe, aged 64, who describes her new home as “marvellous”.
Anne Rowlands, Chief Executive of Railway Housing Association, said: “It’s lovely to hear so many things about our new homes from the people who matter most; the residents who are now living in them.
“We managed to complete the development despite the disruption caused by Covid-19 during 2020 and as a result we have now made another contribution toward the much-needed provision of high quality, affordable housing for older people in Darlington.
“Sitting alongside our award-winning The Sidings development, this means in total we have delivered over 100 new homes in Darlington in the past few years.”
The bungalows were built on Railway Housing Association’s behalf by T Manners & Sons Ltd, a family-run construction company based in Bishop Auckland which was formed in 1860.
Wayne Harris, Construction Director at T Manners, said: “ T Manners & Sons are delighted to have successfully completed this project with Railway Housing Association. Our craftspeople are all local to the area and so it feels special to be involved in a much-needed development which benefits the local community."
The Barton Street development cost £2.4 million, which included £651,664 grant funding from Homes England, the national housing and regeneration agency.
