Work set to start on Victoria House affordable homes
City councillors visited Victoria Road in Winchester (Thursday 17 March) to see the site where work is due to start on a new affordable housing scheme.
They viewed plans for the 27 flats, nine shared ownership and 18 affordable rented, which are a mix of one- and two-bedrooms. The affordable rented flats are aimed at people who are down-sizing.
They also heard about an archaeological dig at the site which found a number of graves from the Roman period containing skeletons - these are being analysed.
Cllr Caroline Horrill, the City Council’s Portfolio Holder for Housing, said:
Victoria House is the latest part of the City Council’s ambitious programme to deliver 300 much-needed new affordable homes across the district.
This scheme shows the care we take to learn about Winchester history’s below ground before we help to build new futures for families above ground. It is satisfying to think that people will be moving into these homes in 18 months.
HH Drew and Son Ltd was appointed as contractor in October 2015 and takes possession of the site in April 2016. Completion is due in the autumn of 2017. The previous building on the site was demolished in 2015.
Tracy Matthews, the City Council’s Archaeologist, said:
Partly excavated in the 1970s, the redevelopment of this site, which lies within the northern Roman cemetery, has provided an opportunity to revisit the site and excavate the remaining burials which survived beneath the 1980s’ sheltered housing.
Information recovered from the newly-excavated burials will add to our existing knowledge of Winchester’s Roman cemeteries and provide an exciting opportunity to understand more of the population buried in this cemetery, be they local or from further afield in the Roman Empire.
New council homes are allocated through Hampshire Home Choice. For further information, and to register for affordable rented homes throughout the area, please visit: www.hampshirehomechoice.org.uk, or for shared ownership homes, visit www.helptobuysouth.co.uk. Further details of the new homes will be available on here closer to the time the development is due to complete.