Category: Suffolk Housing Society

Suffolk Housing Society has ambitious plans to build more than 400 new affordable homes for rent or shared ownership across Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire by 2012.

The Bury-based housing society is on track to build more homes this year than ever before, with 170 new premises, for people in housing need in towns and villages across East Anglia, set to be built by the end of 2008. It will be the most properties Suffolk Housing Society has ever completed in any 12-month period since it was founded 33 years ago.

The properties to be built will range from one-bedroom flats to three or four bedroom houses to cater for people’s different needs and circumstances. It is part of an effort to keep villages thriving and provide more affordable homes in towns.

Steve Clarke, chief executive of Suffolk Housing Society, said: “By the end of December this year, we are expected to have handed over more than a hundred and fifty properties to new tenants and home owners through shared ownership schemes.

“We know that there is a huge need for affordable housing in Suffolk and are continuously working to help meet that increasing demand. Fewer people can afford to buy properties at today’s prices and for some, renting can be too expensive. Even with the many new homes we are providing, there remains a high demand for affordable housing across the county so our work will continue year on year.

“Our partner organisations – Iceni Homes, which manages the building projects on our behalf and the builders and developers who work for us – also deserve praise for their hard work. Together we work to help improve the housing situation for people locally who need it most. With new schemes ongoing in Ipswich, Bury St Edmunds, Haverhill, Sudbury and several other villages in Suffolk, our current programme is one of the biggest in the society’s history.”

Iceni Homes work in partnership with the Key Communities Consortium led by Bedfordshire Pilgrims Housing Association which obtains government grants through the Housing Corporation to support some of the larger building programmes.

Mike Goodson, managing director of Iceni Homes, added: “There is a great need for affordable housing not only in Suffolk but across the whole country. The new affordable homes we build mean that grown up sons and daughters can move from their parents’ home, reduce the numbers of people living in unfit homes, and allow young people the freedom to stay in their village, satisfying local housing need as well as helping to sustain the viability of local communities.”


Some examples of ongoing new housing schemes include:

· Sixteen units for rent and 16 shared ownership properties due to be handed over at Peach Maltings, Bury St Edmunds in 2008 – the first shared ownership properties the society has built in the town for over 10 years.

· Nineteen rented apartments are being built on the former County Hall site in Ipswich, due for handover by the end of 2008.

· 42 rented homes are being built in Hanchet village, Haverhill, as part of a larger development by H.C. Moss and will be handed over by the end of 2008.

· A partnership with Charles Church will provide 48 rented and shared ownership homes at St Bartholomew’s Priory in Sudbury, to be handed over by the end of 2008.

· In partnership with the local parish council, 10 homes for rent will be built in Pebmarsh, where the society already has another 12 properties.

In 2007, 92 new affordable homes were completed and handed over to owners and tenants, which is above the annual average of 75 new properties a year.

New housing schemes recently completed include:

· A scheme with Barratt Homes at Bakers Mill in Great Cornard, which saw 31 rented and shared ownership homes made available.

· Foxgrove Gardens, Ipswich, which saw 64 affordable rented and 8 shared ownership properties built for the society by developers Barratt Homes.

· Three rented properties were handed over in Long Melford in autumn 2007.

· Replacement bungalows in the Babergh area, four finished in summer 2007 in Sproughton and six completed in Shotley.