Rula Homes, the newly established housing division of Rula Developments, has secured planning consent from Wakefield Council to deliver 77 affordable new homes on a 5.76-acre site at City Fields, Wakefield East, located alongside the River Calder and the Aire and the Calder Canal.
Rula Homes is delivering a turnkey solution for the site through acquisition and development and has agreed to sell the completed scheme to WDH (Wakefield and District Housing) which will provide tenancies for affordable rent and shared ownership. The properties will be developed utilising £1,665,000 funding from the Homes England Wave 2 programme.
The development forms part of the wider council vision for the eastern relief road, which extends to around 375 acres with plans for over 2,500 new dwellings and commercial space.
The scheme will comprise a mix of two-, three- and four-bedroom, high quality, affordable homes. Rula expects to start construction on site next month and has appointed local contractor Harris CM to deliver the works.
Rula Homes was recently established to provide well designed built-to-rent and mixed tenure housing, primarily in Yorkshire, Derbyshire, the North West, North East and West Midlands. It collaborates with registered provides to deliver much needed affordable housing across the regions.
Roy Mowbray recently joined Rula Homes as Director, bringing considerable expertise in delivering all aspects of social and affordable housing working with Guinness and Waterloo Associations.
Ben Ward, Managing Director at Rula Homes, said, “We are delighted to secure planning consent on this development as our first residential venture which helps deliver against much needed family social housing in the region. We are actively seeking further development opportunities and social housing partnerships with capacity to deliver schemes from 30 up to 150 units.”
Sue Young, Executive Director of Investment at WDH, said, “It is our vision to create confident and sustainable communities by building new, affordable homes in the Wakefield district and beyond. Our partnership with Rula Homes will help us provide high quality family homes for affordable rent and for sale through shared ownership and achieve our ambition of building 500 energy efficient homes a year.”
Rula Homes expects to complete construction of the scheme by the end of 2022. with WDH expecting to launch a show home by the end of this year, allowing customers to register their interest in the new properties.