New local needs housing on St Mary's, Isles of Scilly

Monday 31st March 2008

Six new homes to meet local housing needs have been completed at Barnes Acre on St Mary's, Isles of Scilly. All of the homes are for rent and have been constructed by Cornwall Rural Housing Association with the assistance of grant funding from the Housing Corporation. The new homes have been built on land acquired from the Duchy of Cornwall.

The scheme comprises three 3 bedroom houses and three 2 bedroom houses. The properties have been designed to be inexpensive to heat and are fitted with ground source heat pumps which provide heating and hot water. Other features include the provision of low energy lighting and water saving features such as a rainwater harvesting system which recycles rainwater for use in toilets and washing machines. They have been independently assessed as achieving an EcoHomes rating of "Very Good".

Peter Moore, Director of Cornwall Rural Housing Association, stated that: "We are pleased to have been able to work so closely with the Duchy of Cornwall and the Council of the Isles of Scilly to provide six homes for rent to meet local needs. We understand that the provision of these six homes helped to ease a log-jam on the Council's waiting list which meant that a total of sixteen families were rehoused.

The name of Barnes Acre was chosen to commemorate William Barnes who built the big house at Normandy on St Mary's in 1900. It was about this time that he also built the greenhouses and farm sheds which previously occupied the site of this new development and his great grandson still lives in the neighbouring farmhouse.

Posted by 0 for Cornwall Rural Housing Association Ltd.