Parish News|

There’s lots going on at Gorse Ride now as Wokingham Borough Council carries out the final demolition works in preparation to hand over the site to the Wates Group at the start of September ready for the first construction enabling works to start.

The regeneration of Gorse Ride is one of the council’s flagship housing projects and will see 249 new modern homes built on the site, a massive 74% of which will be affordable homes to meet growing local demand.

And there’s good news for the residents who will be living there as the new homes have been designed to be energy efficient with high levels of insulation and low carbon innovations such as air source heat pumps to help reduce emissions and make them more affordable to heat.

“There’s a desperate need for more affordable housing in the borough so it’s great to see projects like Gorse Ride moving ahead.” Said Cllr Stephen Conway, executive member for housing. “Residents are at the heart of what we do so being able to provide the homes they need, whether that’s a larger family home or an accessible home for someone with additional needs, is incredibly important.

“We’ve worked closely with the local Gorse Ride community to make sure they could be at the heart of the process and have continued to update our designs to take into account their feedback, as well as the latest guidance on things like designing energy efficient homes which are cheaper to heat.

“Over the coming months we, and our contractors Wates, will continue to work closely with the Gorse Ride residents to make sure they can remain involved and stay up to date with what’s going on at the site. In addition to our regular updates at the Gorse Ride Residents Steering Group, we will continue to run a series of drop-in sessions and events at the local Community Hub as well as offering our regular housing surgeries for those who want to catch up.”

During the past year the Gorse Ride site has seen lots of activity with many of the vacant homes already demolished and, in the last month, a series of archaeological studies carried out. Final demolition and site clearance work is currently underway and set to complete by early September.

After taking control of the site in September initial groundworks will start, along with a series of utilities works ready for foundations to go in next year.

Lee Bushell, operations director for Wates Residential, said: “Wates Residential is a long-standing family business that takes great pride in leaving a legacy for the communities where we work. Here, at Gorse Ride in Wokingham, our social value team is already working with local schools and groups to ensure that local people benefit as part of the process of building these much-needed modern homes.”

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