Curo News

Local residents choose names for Curo’s developments in Lawrence Weston, Bristol

Fri, 19 Apr 2019 08:55:24 Z

‘Century Park’ and ‘The Willows’ are today revealed as the new names for Curo’s developments in Lawrence Weston, Bristol.

The names were suggested by local residents Becky Cockle and Rhiannon Beail, following a campaign by Curo to find new identities for the two sites - previously referred to as Henacre Road and Corbet Close.

The winning residents were thanked for their contributions and given vouchers by Curo Chief Executive, Victor da Cunha. Victor says: “We wanted to make sure we chose names that reflected the local area, its community, history and landmarks - what better way to do so than ask local people who live here for their input.

“The competition was a great opportunity to engage with the local community and we’ve received many inspiring suggestions. Thanks to everyone who got involved and congratulations to Becky and Rhiannon for putting forward the winning names.”

Over the next few years, Curo plans to develop 185 new homes in Lawrence Weston with more than half – 95 homes – as affordable housing for social/affordable rent and shared ownership.

Century Park at Henacre Road will deliver 128 new homes, including 30% affordable housing. The Willows at Corbet Close is a 100% affordable housing scheme and will provide another 57 much-needed new homes.

Rhiannon Beail, who suggested ‘The Willows’, is a 21-year-old college student. She said: “The development is located very close to the local nature reserve and wetlands where there are many willow trees. As a resident of Lawrence Weston I have visited these wetlands many times since I was little and thought it would be nice to acknowledge the close connection to nature we have in this area.

“There was also a large willow tree that stood just up the street from Corbet Close, I used to walk past it every day on my way to school.”

Century Park was suggested by local resident Becky Cockle, who is a Trainee Community Development Worker for the resident-driven organisation Ambition Lawrence Weston. Becky’s choice recognises the 100th anniversary since the first ‘homes for heroes’ were built in the wider area. She said: “I support the development and look forward to these much-needed new homes being built. I’m even more excited about it now that I can tell friends and family I actually named the site!”

Name our developments and win £100 in Love2Shop vouchers

Mon, 10 Dec 2018 12:03:24 Z

Curo asks local people for suggestions

We’re proud and excited to be delivering 185 new homes in Lawrence Weston over the next few years. While we’re progressing our planning applications for 57 affordable homes at Corbet Close and 128 homes at Henacre Road, we’re asking local residents to help us find names for our two developments.

If you have an idea for a name for either of the new schemes – or both – that reflects the local area, its community, history or landmarks, we’d love to hear from you.

The winning names will receive £100 in Love2Shop vouchers each and will be announced in February 2019.

Send your ideas together with your name, age, contact details and one sentence explaining the story behind your suggestion by 31st January 2019 to:

E: communications@curo-group.co.uk

Or write to us at:

Curo – Communications

The Maltings, River Place

Lower Bristol Road

Bath BA2 1EP

See Terms & Conditions for the competition here.

Bristol North West MP visits Lawrence Weston site where Curo hope to deliver 57 new affordable homes

Tue, 25 Sep 2018 15:49:19 Z

Image above - from left to right: Curo Senior Development Manager Francesca Topazio, Darren Jones MP, Curo Managing Director Gerraint Oakley and Technical Manager Peter Haywood at Holly House, Corbet Close

Bristol North West MP Darren Jones visited Curo’s site at Corbet Close in Lawrence Weston last week to find out more about the organisation’s plans to build 57 much-needed new affordable homes in the area.

The local MP was accompanied on the site visit by Curo Managing Director, Gerraint Oakley, and the project team.

The development will provide one, two and three bedroom homes for social and affordable rent, as well as a number of homes for shared ownership.

Curo submitted its planning application in August and is anticipating the new homes could be completed by the end of 2021 if granted consent by Bristol City Council.

Corbet Close along with Curo’s other proposed development in Lawrence Weston - for 128 homes at Henacre Road - could see the addition of 185 new homes in total for the area, of which 95 will be affordable housing.

Mr Jones said: “These developments will help more families from Lawrence Weston to stay in or return to the community they love and where they grew up.

“I am pleased that more than half of the new homes proposed by Curo will be available as affordable housing - these homes will benefit people who are on the council’s housing list.

“I grew up in Lawrence Weston and I’m delighted to see investment in housing in this area – these developments and others like it will not only create new housing that is urgently needed in Bristol, they’ll also deliver growth in the local economy. Housing Associations are key partners in delivering our city’s target of 2,000 new homes per year by 2020.”

Gerraint Oakley said: “We’re keen to work with the council and other partners to create even more new housing in Bristol and look forward to be able to start building both at Henacre Road and Corbet Close.

“We’d like to thank Darren Jones MP for taking the time to visit our site and find out more about our developments which will benefit the whole area - including our existing tenants at Corbet Close, who will enjoy better external communal areas, improved security and amenities.”

Curo acquires 10-acre site for housing development from Bristol City Council

Thu, 15 Mar 2018 13:39:50 Z

Housing association and house-builder Curo has recently acquired a 10.2-acre site in Lawrence Weston from Bristol City Council with a view to building up to 128 new homes, including 30% affordable housing for social rent and shared ownership.

Curo will be hosting a public exhibition at the Lawrence Weston Baptist Church (Long Cross, BS11 0LT) on Thursday 22 March from 3pm until 7pm to give local people the chance to view and comment on the proposals.

The land stretches from the back of Long Cross and Henacre Road, between Kings Weston Lane and the skate park, and is one of three sites identified for vital new housing in the Lawrence Weston Neighbourhood Plan.

The proposals have been developed by the housing association in consultation with the resident-driven organisation Ambition Lawrence Weston, Bristol Urban Design Forum and Bristol City Council’s affordable housing team.

Curo is proposing a mix of 1, 2, 3 and 4-bedroom homes, with the majority being 2 and 3-bed houses (72%) in response to the Lawrence Weston Housing Needs Study which highlights the requirement for these types of properties to enable families to stay in the area.

Cabinet lead for housing at BCC, Councillor Paul Smith, says: “Our city desperately needs more affordable housing and we are keen to work with housing associations and developers like Curo who share our vision for thriving mixed communities with high quality, modern and efficient homes.

The Henacre site will unlock the opportunity for more local people to buy or rent at an affordable cost thanks to the 37 social and Shared Ownership homes proposed as part of the development.”

Curo Chief Executive, Victor da Cunha, says: “Curo is an organisation with social purpose at its heart. We’re committed to help build the homes our region needs and we’re proposing 185 new homes for Lawrence Weston in Bristol, across two sites – Henacre and Corbet Close. More than half of these – 94 homes – will be affordable housing delivered within integrated communities.

We’ve got great ambitions to build a significantly higher number of homes in Bristol and we’re constantly looking for new sites to help the Council achieve their goal of delivering 2,000 homes a year by 2020, of which 800 will be affordable housing.”

Alongside new homes, the development plans for Henacre show improvements to the existing infrastructure such as new zebra crossings and bus shelters on Kings Weston Lane and Long Cross, as well as large areas of open green space and a proposal to retain and re-route the existing cycle path to the north of the site.