Work starts on Great Junction Street homes

Port of Leith Housing Association (PoLHA) in conjunction with its subsidiary company, Persevere Developments Limited, has started work on its Great Junction Street development. The 32 affordable homes, made up of nine one-bedroom and 23 two-bedroom properties, are being built for social and mid-market rent and are due to be completed in autumn next year.

Twenty of the flats will be available for social rent, priced at £330 for a one bedroom flat and £375 a month for a two bedroom flat. The remaining 12 homes, available for mid-market rent, will be priced at £450 a month for a one bedroom and £550 for a two bedroom property.

The ground floor has been designed as a large retail unit that can be split into three separate units. The current plan is to lease the whole unit to a local community group called The Junction.

Keith Anderson, Chief Executive of PoLHA, said: “High rents in the open market and tough mortgage criteria to buy a house make it increasingly difficult for people to access and live in good quality homes. We recognise the variety of housing requirements for people in Edinburgh which is why the Great Junction Street development will help meet a wider range of needs. PoLHA is committed to providing much-needed, high-quality, affordable housing for local people and this development will complement our existing affordable housing throughout Leith and North Edinburgh.”

In keeping with the surrounding buildings, the exterior will be stone and the properties will feature Solar Thermal Heating provided by panels located on the roof.

The main contractor is CCG Limited and the architect is EMA. It is being funded by a combination of private finance raised by PoLHA and Government grant allocated by the City of Edinburgh Council.

PoLHA is building the mid- rent homes on behalf of its wholly owned subsidiary company Persevere Developments Ltd (PDL) which was set up in 2011 to allow the Association to be more innovative in terms of funding and development of this kind.

PoLHA owns around 2400 properties throughout the North Edinburgh area and hopes to deliver up to 500 additional new homes by 2015 through the Association and PDL.