Curo News

University of Bath students visit award-winning development from Curo

Tue, 09 May 2023 09:54:45 Z

Pictured: University of Bath students and lecturer, Gavin Knowles, in front of the latest phase of development

Mulberry Park, the award-winning residential development from Curo, recently hosted students from the neighbouring University of Bath as part of their education in civil engineering and architecture.

The students, led by their lecturer Gavin Knowles, visited Mulberry Park to learn about the innovative construction methods and housing designs featured in the development. The visit offered a unique opportunity to observe the latest building techniques and structural engineering practices in action.

The development has been designed with the needs of modern family living at its forefront; and the students had the opportunity to explore this concept first-hand. Of particular interest was the diverse range of homes at Mulberry Park, which range from semi-detached and terraced townhouses to smaller apartments and larger detached houses.

Curo is committed to supporting education and training opportunities in the local area and established a leading partnership with Bath College and local construction firms to provide accredited work placements and apprenticeships at Mulberry Park and across its housing and support organisation. By 2020, Curo had aimed to deliver 100 work and educational placements, 70 jobs with training, and 15 apprenticeships at Mulberry Park, and is pleased to report that it has achieved and exceeded these targets.

"We were delighted to welcome the Bath University students to Mulberry Park and share with them our innovative approach to creating a family-friendly, sustainable community," said Alan Mapston, Senior Site Manager at Mulberry Park. "It's always inspiring to see the next generation of architects and builders developing their skills and knowledge, and we look forward to seeing what they will achieve in the future."

Curo appoints Jehu to £8.5million regeneration scheme in Bristol

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 10:13:49 Z

West of England housing association Curo has appointed Jehu Group as the main contractor to deliver 57 new affordable homes at a regeneration scheme in Lawrence Weston, Bristol.

The development, whose name ‘The Willows’ was suggested by a local resident, will consist of a mix of one, two and three-bedroom houses and apartments delivered across three adjoining sites. The project will include the conversion of Curo’s former office building at Holly House into 13 apartments for social rent. These will be let to people over 55 and will feature assistive technology, such as personal alarms or memory aids, that can be tailored to the needs of the occupiers and enable them to stay in their homes for longer.

Another 25 homes for affordable rent and 19 houses for shared ownership will be newly constructed on the land of the former Long Cross Inn and Rockwell care home.

Curo will also refurbish an existing block of 12 apartments which will benefit from external insulation, new windows and new electricity supplies. The improvements will help reduce heating bills and increase comfort for residents.

Curo’s investment of almost £5.7 million will be topped up by a Homes England grant of just over £2.8 million.

Works are starting in March, with the first few weeks of activity dedicated to setting up and preparing the site. This will be followed by demolition of the former Rockwell care home buildings, scheduled to start on 25th March and last approximately 12 weeks.

Curo Chief Executive, Victor da Cunha, says: “We’re looking forward to working with Jehu at The Willows. This exciting regeneration scheme won’t just provide new affordable housing for local people, it will also benefit the wider community by redeveloping vacant and underused land and improving the appearance and security of the area.”

Nigel Crawford, Operations Director of Jehu South West, says: “We are excited by our new partnership with Curo and are looking forward to delivering much needed affordable homes for the local community at The Willows. The Willows is an exciting development for the area, and we plan to develop a great relationship with the residents, the Oasis Bank Leaze Academy school and local businesses and leave a legacy when we have finished the project.”

Curo are building another 128 new homes in Lawrence Weston, including 90 homes for sale and 38 homes for social rent and shared ownership at their Century Park development.

The regeneration scheme at The Willows is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.

Curo Chief Executive Victor da Cunha to chair Homes for the South West

Wed, 31 Jul 2019 11:05:18 Z

Image above: Victor da Cunha, Curo Chief Executive

Homes for the South West has appointed a new chair to take it forward for the next two years. Victor da Cunha, chief executive of Curo takes up the role with immediate effect.

Homes for the South West is an alliance of eleven of the largest housing associations in the South West of England who are developing their own new homes. They collectively own and manage more than 180,000 homes and plan to invest £2bn to deliver 16,000 new homes in the region over the next four years.

The group works together to identify and tackle the barriers to development in the region and collectively make the case for new housing at a regional and national level.

The move was announced as Paul Crawford, who has chaired Homes for the South West since 2013, completed his tenure as chair of the group. Barbara Shaw, chief executive of Westward Housing, remains as the deputy chair.

Victor said: “It’s a privilege to be chairing Homes for the South West. As a group we own some 180,000 homes and we have ambitious plans to build an additional 16,000 affordable homes over the next four years helping to address the housing crisis here in South West England. By working together we can amplify our voice and make a strong case to regional and national government for policies and strategic partnerships that help us to build more homes. It’s about much more than money – it’s about seeing how housing associations play a vital part in getting new houses built.

“With support from Government, we can deliver more homes, faster, and create secure, affordable housing for thousands of local families.”

He went on to say: “We’re focusing on four key areas the government can help us with: getting access to land, getting the planning system working better and faster, ensuring we have the skills we need to build housing and the infrastructure that’s required for our communities to thrive.”

Victor also paid tribute to Paul Crawford for his time as chair.

Paul Crawford, the outgoing chair said: “Homes for the South West is in a far stronger place than we started out, and has successfully developed a unified voice for the largest developing organisations in our region. Over the last year we worked with senior MPs from all parties, as well as key stakeholders and influencers inside and outside the sector. We are being listened to and we are making a difference, but there is still a long way to go in creating the environment for an even greater step-change in the number of much-needed affordable homes. I look forward to supporting Victor as a continuing member of Homes for the South West.”

Visit the Homes for the South West website for more information.

Schoolchildren bury time capsule in Midsomer Norton to mark start of construction of new Curo affordable homes

Tue, 05 Feb 2019 16:35:44 Z

Pupils from Somervale School today buried a time capsule on the site of a new development delivered by Curo and contractor E G Carter.

The time capsule was buried as part of a ground-breaking ceremony to mark the start of construction works at St Chads Green in Midsomer Norton, where 16 new affordable homes will be built by the end of the year.

Children were invited to provide items for the time capsule, which will remain underground for at least 30 years. Among the things they buried were a signed uniform tie in their school colours, pictures, letters describing life in 2019, their predictions for the future and a copy of Midsomer Norton Life magazine.

The new homes represent an investment by Curo of almost £2m and are being delivered in partnership with Homes England, who provided funding of £480,000 and Bath & North East Somerset, who have awarded a further £200,000 grant.

The development includes a mix of 15 houses with two, three and four bedrooms and a one-bedroom apartment. Four of the new homes will be available to buy via Shared Ownership, while the other 12 will be let at affordable rents to local people currently on the local authority’s housing waiting list.

Curo Chief Executive, Victor da Cunha, says: “We’re very excited to start building works with contractor EG Carter today at our new affordable development, where more local families will soon benefit from a secure, long-term home.

“Regeneration projects like this give us the opportunity to create high-quality affordable homes in key areas of towns and cities and we look forward to welcoming the new residents at St Chads Green later this year.

The 16 new family homes are replacing a former sheltered accommodation scheme of 23 flats, increasing the number of people to be housed at St Chads Green by 33 and responding to the greatest pressures on the housing list – which show that the highest demand for affordable housing in the local area is for family homes.

Bath & North East Somerset Council cabinet member for Economic and Community Regeneration, Councillor Paul Myers said: “As mayor of Midsomer Norton I am especially pleased to see this development break ground. Midsomer Norton is a great place to live and it’s fantastic that Curo, with support from the local authority and central government, are delivering a 100% affordable housing scheme here.

“This development will make a big difference to the local families who will move in at the end of the year, as they’ll be able to put down roots in a brand-new, modern and efficient home in an area they love.”

Joanna Postlethwaite, Headteacher of Somervale School, said: “The children were delighted to get involved in the event today and worked hard to put together a selection of items for the time capsule that will provide an historic snapshot of our school and town.

"We’re very pleased that 16 new families will get the chance to move to this great area soon and look forward to welcoming their children to our school.”

Curo, Swan and Homes England establish Strategic Partnership to deliver 1,000 affordable homes

Wed, 30 Jan 2019 15:26:02 Z

Image: Curo's development of 700 homes at Mulberry Park, Bath

It was announced today that Curo and Swan Housing Association (“Swan”) have successfully secured a Strategic Partnership with Homes England and a grant allocation of £51.1m to build 1,067 new affordable homes by March 2024, in addition to their existing development plans. The programme will comprise a mix of homes available for social rent, affordable rent and shared ownership.

The allocation was announced as part of Homes England’s second wave of Strategic Partnerships and is one of only 23 announced to date.

Curo, based in Bath, and Swan, based in Essex, operate in regions where high property values mean that homes for private rent and market sale are often unaffordable. By working in partnership the two housing associations will share resources and expertise to maximise the number of new homes that can be delivered in areas with high affordability pressures.

Victor da Cunha, Curo’s Chief Executive, says “Securing Strategic Partner status with Homes England is great news; we exist to provide affordable housing for local people and this additional funding will enable us to deliver hundreds of new homes over and above what’s already in our business plan.

“Specifically, it accelerates our total building programme to 2,520 homes over the next five years. This will increase our housing stock by more than 20% and means that we’ll continue to play a full and active role in addressing the regional housing crisis across the West of England.

“We’re proud to have been selected as one of only a small number of partners to work with Homes England. We’ve been asking government for some time to provide additional funding to speed up housing delivery, and they have listened.”

John Synnuck, Swan’s Chief Executive says “As a Housing Association working in Essex and East London, becoming a Strategic Partner of Homes England ensures that we can continue to build much needed affordable homes in Essex.

This year we celebrate our 25th Anniversary as an organisation and we continue to be as dedicated as ever to providing affordable homes for those who need them. We currently own and manage over 11,000 homes and this funding will enable us to deliver 505 much needed additional affordable homes over and above what’s already in our business plan representing a 5% increase in our housing stock - helping us towards our ambitious target of building an additional 10,000 homes by 2027.”

Curo and Bellway sign agreement to bring 171 new affordable homes to South West region

Mon, 06 Aug 2018 14:17:28 Z

A £28m deal has been agreed to bring 171 new affordable homes to Bristol, Somerset and Wiltshire.

Housing association and housebuilder Curo and national housebuilder Bellway have joined forces to deliver the homes over the next few years under a strategic S106 package deal.

The deal is the first of its kind for both Curo and Bellway South West. It means Curo will be the sole provider of affordable homes across six Bellway developments.

Curo Chief Executive Victor da Cunha said: “The homes will be a mix of social and affordable rent as well as shared ownership. Importantly, they will enable us to help even more local people in our region to move into a modern, energy-efficient home they can afford.

“We’re delighted to enter this partnership with Bellway. While we are a developer in our own right, collaboration with others is also critically important because it enables us to increase the numbers of homes we let each year and therefore helps address the huge housing need we have across the South West. We hope that this will be the first of many other similar ventures.”

The package deal satisfies Bellway’s section 106 planning obligations to provide affordable homes on its developments. Developers usually work with different housing associations across their schemes and there can be more than one social housing provider on one site. Housing associations acquire these homes to let them on social and affordable rents to local people who can’t afford the market value.

The new homes will cost Curo £28million and will be 100% funded from the organisation’s own resources.

Bellway will also build 326 homes for private sale on the developments in Wickwar, Corsham, Bradford on Avon, Hanham, Melksham and Banwell.

Paul Minnis, Managing Director for Bellway South West, said: “Working with one affordable housing partner across six of our new developments will bring benefits to Bellway, Curo and residents of the private and affordable homes we are building. Together we will work in a more effective and cost-efficient way to make these homes available to local people more quickly.

“The deal comes at a significant point in Bellway’s expansion across the South West. The partnership demonstrates the crucial role of new homes developments in providing affordable housing to meet local needs. Our new developments will also generate investment in infrastructure such as education, healthcare and transport as part of our additional section 106 obligations.”

This is not the first time the two organisations have teamed up to deliver new homes. Bellway also work alongside Curo’s own house-building team at the award-winning Mulberry Park development in South Bath, where each is building private and affordable homes.