A disused former allotment site in the centre of Consett has been transformed into a new 24-home eco-friendly affordable housing scheme.

Durham Aged Mineworkers' Homes Association (DAMHA), in partnership with Durham County Council, the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and specialist affordable housing contractor Esh Property Services, has built the two-bedroom bungalows on a disused allotment site at Steel Street, Consett.

The homes have now all been let to people in housing need aged 50 and over, and feature solar panels which capture the sun’s energy to help to heat the water in the homes. As well as the solar panels, the properties all have underground tanks that capture and recycle water so it can be used to flush toilets.


One of the residents enjoying her new surroundings is Norma Savage (pictured right). The 67-year-old was living in Leadgate but the move has brought her even closer to her family, which includes three children, five grand-children and one great-grandchild. She said: "I suffer from cancer, osteporasis and diabetes, so the stairs in my old home were getting too much for me and it meant I had started to lose much of my independence. I have been on a waiting list for a bungalow for some time, but now I am in my new home it has been well worth it – it has very quickly become my little heaven. Living in a new bungalow means I have no longer got the stress of walking up and down the stairs and I am hoping it will make a big difference to my health."

The completion of the scheme brings the total of new homes DAMHA has built in the last 12 months to 50. DAMHA Chief Executive Paul Mullis said: "There is a big demand for spacious, high quality bungalows of this nature and we are delighted to have been able to help people like Norma. Despite operating in tough economic times we have been able to undertake, with the support of our partners, a healthy new house building programme and by doing so met the needs of so many older people across County Durham and the rest of the North East."

(CD)