Ground-breaking ceremony sets project to build six new council homes in Gorleston in motion

A 3D view of what the new development on the Magdalen Estate in Gorleston will look like. Picture: Great Yarmouth Borough Council (Image: GYBC)

A development of six new council homes in Gorleston's Magdalen Estate got under way with a ceremony to break the ground they are to be built on.

The new development, off Hertford Way, will see two one-bedroom flats, two two-bedroom semi detached houses and two three-bedroom-semi-detached houses built, along with on-site car parking and soft landscaping.

Penny Carpenter, chairman of Great Yarmouth Borough Council's housing and neighbourhoods committee said she was 'delighted' work has begun.

She said: 'The borough council is committed to meeting the housing challenge for our residents and I am really pleased we are able to utilise this redundant space to deliver new council homes for tenants.

'The homes will be allocated to eligible tenants through the Housing Options service and I Iook forward to welcoming in the first tenants. The council is currently exploring other potential sites across the borough for further small-scale council house developments.'

Paul Pitcher, of constructor Wellington, which has won the contract to build the new homes, added: 'We are delighted to be breaking the ground at this site and starting to build these new homes in Gorleston.

'As a locally-based firm, we take great pride in building top quality affordable homes in the area, and we have done so at many sites across Norfolk and Suffolk. Not only is this providing much needed homes for local people, but it is also creating employment for local people.'

In addition to news of the development, it was revealed a man who grew up on the estate would help to build it, after landing a job as a bricklaying apprentice.

The project is expected to be completed and welcoming new tenants by Spring 2018