AyrshireHousing

Ayrshire Housing is a leading housing provider and registered charity.  Our turnover is almost £5 million and this year we have invested £9 million developing new affordable housing.  Our projects have been widely recognised for the quality of their design.  We complement this with a long-term commitment to friendly, customer focused management. We extend our impact in the wider community through support for community development, housing support and training initiatives. Our Board structure is based on a partnership of our tenants, South Ayrshire Council and Ayrshire’s communities.  We wish to recruit committed and knowledgeable individuals for two vacancies in our community category. We are particularly interested to hear from people with an interest and/or experience in housing and social affairs, and who can contribute to the management of a significant, not for profit company. The positions are subject to election by our community members. The positions are unpaid although travelling expenses are refundable.  Attendance at up to ten evening meetings a year can be expected.

Everyone of our tenants is also a member of the company. There are three vacancies this year in the tenant section of the Board. Every tenant recently received a notice with their summer newsletter encouraging participation in the Board.

If you are interested in being elected to the Board  for either category, please submit your name and contact details along with a brief statement (around 50 words) explaining your interest in becoming involved, by 6 August 2010. For an informal discussion please contact Alan Park, Ayrshire Housing, 119 Main St, Ayr (01292 880 120 – apark@ayrshirehousing.org.uk). You can also  download an application form (pdf) and Company Profile (pdf) here.

At lunchtime today,  Alex Neil Scotland’s Minister for Housing and Communities launched a major new housing development in the Ayrshire village of Tarbolton.

The project is being taken forward by the Ayrshire housebuilder Hope Homes in partnership with the housing association Ayrshire Housing.  On completion, 126 houses will have been built for sale and 30 for affordable rent.  Mr Neil said “I have long recognised the quality and commitment of these two Ayrshire companies. I’m pleased that the Government has been able to  use its support for the affordable element to complement Hope Homes’ own efforts to provide much needed new homes for sale to the village and with it local construction jobs”.  Pearl Boyd Ayrshire Housing’s vice chair also welcomed the continued support of South Ayrshire Council for her Board’s efforts to provide  much needed new housing. She was pleased that local Councillor John Allan had been joined by Councillor Hugh Hunter, the former Council leader, and Mairi Low who is one of the Council representatives on Ayrshire Housing’s Board.

Ian Hope of Hope Homes said “Hope Homes and Ayrshire Housing have a longstanding relationship in terms of affordable housing. Projects have already been completed at Dalrymple and Maybole. Beyond Tarbolton, further partnership developments are planned for Fisherton and, as part of a wider regeneration initiative, in  Ayr.

Earlier in the day,  Mr Neil announced that an extra £1.5 millions will be released this year to Ayrshire’s network of housing associations. This is on top of more support for the new Council house building.

126 houses for sale are planned in four phases. In the first phase of 27, 14 are sold and occupied with a further 5 reserved.  A shared equity  option is available on application.

The 30 houses for rent have been designed by Ayr based Lawrence McPherson Associates to both meet Ayrshire Housing’s own requirements and to be integrated with Hope Homes’ planning scheme.    On completion early next year, 18 four person and 12 six person houses will be available for let. 4 of the six person houses are especially suited to wheelchair users.

Hope Homes Scotland was founded in 1990 by Scott Hope, Anne Hope and Ian Hope. Combining their experience in different areas of business, they have developed a company which has an enviable reputation. They have become well a regarded business in bringing forward affordable high quality developments to Ayrshire’s small burghs and villages. It has successfully addressed a market niche largely ignored by the volume builders. They are now working with the Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment on the Knockroon development as well as on a number of other projects.

The 30 houses for rent represent an investment of £4m. This has been made possible by a Scottish Government Grant of £2.3 m. In addition, South Ayrshire Council made available a grant of £80,000 which has allowed four of the houses to be built to wheelchair standard.

See an earlier post about this project.

Today, Ayrshire Housing  held a well attended open day to thank the Primary 7 Children of Braehead Primary School for their contribution in designing the railings in a new open space. This is part of a £13 million regeneration project which has just been completed in Ayr’s Lochside neighbourhood.

Ayrshire Housing’s Margaret Woods gave a special thank you to the Primary 7 children for their hard work during their art class for drawing their designs which were then sent to RJC Fabrications who transformed their fabulous designs into the railings on display in the open area.

Margaret highlighted that last year’s Primary 7 children designed the Site Safety Posters when the development was under construction. Next year’s Primary 7 will plant flowers in a planter and help maintain some of the planters in the area to keep them looking beautiful for all to enjoy.

On behalf of Ayrshire Housing, Margaret thanked Jamie Houston the children’s teacher and Nan Campbell, Assistant Head Teacher at Braehead Primary School for all their help and continuing contributions.  She also thanked The New Lochside Tenants and Residents Association, Wilma Howie of Aspire2gether, Liz Robertson of Lochside Youth Initiative, Nick Coombey the landscape Architect, Ashleigh and all of the landscaping sub-contractors involved who have put a lot of hard work and effort into the transformation of these open areas which will be of benefit to the whole of the Lochside Community.

The creation of 100 new houses for rent has been supported the Scottish Government and South Ayrshire Council. The Council is currently caring out complementary improvement works in the surrounding area. Lochside People and Place – an extensive programme of community engagement, arts and youth projects has been made possible by funding from Ayrshire Housing, the Government and South Ayrshire Council. Further events including a revived gala are planned over the coming months by the project’s manager, Aspire2gether.

After over eight years of planning and protracted negotiation, Ayrshire Housing has bought a former Ayr church which was until recently the Roman Catholic Church’s Cathedral of the Good Shepherd.

The building is located in the Dalmilling neighbourhood close to the town’s racecourse.

Ayrshire Housing got involved following an approach from the then Bishop Maurice Taylor. A partnership using the tried and tested approach of Scottish Churches Housing Action was agreed. Ayrshire Housing  then worked at it own risk towards planning and listed building consents for the partial demolition of the building and the creation of 24 much needed houses for the community.

The Church unfortunately decided last December just as Ayrshire Housing was about to secure the development consents to abandon the building to a speculative purchaser. Working with new partners, Ayrshire Housing is pleased that it has been able to put this much needed project back on track.

This evening, local Councillors Douglas Campbell, Ian Cavana and Tom Slider took the opportunity to discuss the redevelopment plans and to have a last look at the building’s interior.

Councillor Douglas Campbell who is also South Ayrshire Council’s Portfolio Holder for housing complemented Ayrshire Housing’s efforts over the years. He said “I welcome the plans to redevelop the site over the coming months. As well has providing much needed new housing, it will tackle the community’s real concern about the risk of this building remaining empty. The Council has made this its top housing association priority in the housing investment plan agreed with the Scottish Government.”

Ayrshire Housing plans to retain the tower and gable of this C listed buildng and erect 24 new houses and flats in a form that respects the legacy of the cathedral building. The scheme was substantially redesigned on the basis of comments from South Ayrshire’s planners following a planning application submitted in July 2008. The application followed belated clearance from the Roman authorities for the  new Bishop to move to close the church and relocate his cathedra (his chair) to another church in Ayr.

The designer of the new development is Gordon Fleming of Ayr based ARPL. Gordon was selected following a limited architectural competition way back at the start in 2002! Ayrshire Housing is currently negotiating a building contract with Ashleigh (Scotland) Ltd who have also supported its efforts over the last few months to recover this project for the benefit of the local community.  It is hoped that the first phase – the demolition of the nave and ancillary buildings – will commence later in the summer.

Here are the finalised plans.

Last night saw the completion of the final stage of our partnership project with Prestwick’s Kingcase Parish Church.

The project facilitated by Scottish Churches Housing Action has produced 10 new houses for affordable renting alongside a major extension to the church’s existing hall. The works were procured jointly with an integrated design and contractor team lead by Ayrshire Housing. The designs are by Ayr architects ARPL.

At a dedication service to mark the formal reopening of the  hall, the Reverend David Watson thanked Ayrshire Housing for its work in facilitating this complex project. It involved the resolution of a number of planning issues before work could start and, unfortunately, then coping with the contractor’s insolvency.

South Ayrshire Council has installed some imaginative street signs to the newly created Observer Court. Bearing the crest of the former Royal Observer Corps, they are a historical link to the Corps’ “bunker” which once stood on the site during the cold war against the former Soviet Union.

Here are more details of the housing aspects of the partnership.

At last summer has arrived and its time to make the most of your garden!

Entries are sought for our annual garden competition by 14 August. Here are details of last year’s competition.

This year, you can enter one or more of the following:

• Garden
• Window display
• Container display
• Best kept close and/or shared garden area
• Garden in a new development (upto 2 years old)

Use the entry form in the spring newsletter or just e-mail your interest to info@ayrshire housing.org.uk.

Let’s see your horticultural skills!