Double housing awards joy for Gateshead.
A £14m major revamp of a village in the south of Gateshead has carried off a pair of awards for the new homes local families are now living in.
The building of almost 150 new family homes to replace outdated 1940s prefabs in Kibblesworth, has picked up two prestigious housing awards in the space of a few days.
The scheme, which began in 2010, saw Keelman Homes, a charitable partner of The Gateshead Housing Company and Gateshead Council build modern homes for social rent, shared ownership and for sale.
The project, completed in 2013 has won awards from the National Federation of ALMOs and the Northern finals of the Local Authority Building Control (LABC) ‘Building Excellence’ awards.
The NFA awards saw 80 entries from housing organisations, with the Kibblesworth project beating off stiff competition from runners-up Solihull Community Housing and Barnet Homes.
Sue Roberts MBE, Chair of the National Federation of ALMOs said: “This year has set a whole new standard of excellence for the ALMO movement, and it’s wonderful to see ALMOs rising to some of the huge challenges we face.
“In the midst of the turmoil and economic hardship, ALMOs, including The Gateshead Housing have proven to be a shining light of innovation and best practice.”
The Kibblesworth revamp was also recognised by the LABC awards, which saw finalists from Cumbria, Durham, Northumberland, Tees Valley and Tyne and Wear.
Northern regional chair Dawn McQuillan from Sunderland City Council Building Control, said: “The LABC Building Excellence Awards celebrate the achievement of high standards in technical design and construction.
“The awards enable us to celebrate the very best construction projects.”
Brian Kelly, Board Chair of Keelman Homes, said: “We are delighted that our work with Keelman Homes and our partners has been recognised not once, but twice in the space of a few days.
“It is hard to believe the scale of the transformation of the village, which has seen us demolishing dozens of outdated post-war prefabs and replacing them with modern, family houses.
“And that work is continuing with a number of projects to build new, modern, affordable homes across the borough.”
Councillor Malcolm Graham, Gateshead’s Cabinet member for Housing, said: “This is a superb development which has provided beautiful homes for people in genuine need. These awards are thoroughly well deserved.
“At a time when everyone is talking about the need for more social and affordable housing, I’m incredibly proud that here in Gateshead we are not just talking about it, we are actually doing something to meet that need.”
All the winning regional projects from England and Wales automatically qualify for the LABC Building Excellence Awards Grand Final in November.
The overall Kibblesworth scheme was developed by Keelman Homes – a not for profit partner of The Gateshead Housing Company, with overall site constructor Keepmoat, with funding and support from Government through the Homes and Community Agency and Gateshead Council.
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