Sovereign Housing Association will develop the site at Kersey Crescent, in Speen, in a joint venture with David Wilson Homes, after West Berkshire Council planners approved the proposals on 17 April.
Currently five blocks, each with 15 two-bedroom flats, sit on the site. They will be replaced with 78 new homes for rent, shared ownership and outright sale.
The new homes, which will be located alongside the A4 Bath Road, one of the main entry points into Newbury, will comprise two one-bedroom flats, 40 two-bedroom flats, two two-bedroom houses, 23 three-bedroom houses and 11 four-bedroom houses.
Sovereign has been planning to redevelop the flats at 5-155 Kersey Crescent for several years. By the early 2000s, the flats had become unpopular with residents; there was a high turnover of residents, they were difficult to let and required a great deal of investment.
Having been emptied ahead of possible redevelopment, the funding regime for affordable homes changed, with big reductions in the grant available to redevelop homes. In 2005, in coordination with West Berkshire Council, the empty homes were re-let on short-term tenancies to provide temporary accommodation for families at risk of homelessness.
By the late 2000s, the temporary letting of the flats was becoming unsustainable; problems with heating and damp could not be rectified effectively or economically