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A new £1.5m refurbishment of an existing scheme for homeless people in Gateshead is set to be re-opened.
St. Bede’s House in Gateshead which is managed by Three Rivers Housing Association will be officially opened by Gateshead Borough Council’s Cllr. Brian Coates on Tuesday March 3 following extensive works and improvements to this facility.
The supported housing scheme for young adults was originally opened in 1994 consisting of 29 self-contained studio apartments housing homeless people from Gateshead. In recent years, the need to re-provide this scheme has been evident, due to the expiry of the lease and the condition of the building.
The works which has been carried out by Gateshead-based, Koru Property Services, will provide 15 self-contained one-bedroom Manhattan style apartments with office facilities and flexible space for training and one to one / group support activities.
Due to the refurbishment, the life span of this former convent has been extended for a further 50 years. Tenants are issued with a 6-month assured short hold tenancy agreements and a floating support service will be available to assist people to move on from the service into independent living.
Head of Care and Support at Three Rivers Housing Association, Chris Reed said, “This is a wonderful new scheme which has been delivered on time and within budget. Koru Property Services have worked with the Association on some of our other supported housing schemes and their standards show excellent knowledge of working in existing buildings. More importantly, they show respect for the end user group.
“Our tenants and staff have been consulted throughout the design and implementation stages of the refurbishment and included in the discussions around specification and design.”
Tony Henderson, Director at Koru Property Services said: “This project is quite typical for us where clients envisage having to extend an existing building considerably to suit their needs.
“However, the in-house design and architecture team here came up with a fantastic solution for Three Rivers Housing. We were able to fully utilise the existing building, eradicating the need for any extensions to be made. This meant we could deliver a project inside budget and in quicker time than expected.”
Cllr. David Napier, Gateshead Council's Cabinet member for Housing, says: "The Council has an important role to play in eradicating homelessness.
"This new development not only offers homeless people that all-important address from which they can begin to re-build their lives, it also offers much-needed personal support which will help them back into mainstream housing.
"Three Rivers Housing should be congratulated for carrying out an excellent and imaginative scheme, and securing the future of this former convent for a good many years to come."
The standard of accommodation and specification at St. Bede’s is high and includes practical considerations such as wet rooms, economical heating systems and good living space standards. |
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Posted by Kim for Three Rivers Housing Association Ltd. |
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