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Swan appointed to 1,600-home regeneration project
Swan Housing Association has signed contracts with an Essex council for a joint venture to build 1,600 homes through a major regeneration project.
The 11,000-home landlord and Southend-on-Sea Borough Council have now formed Porters Place Southend LLP to deliver the regeneration of the Queensway Estate.
Swan was given full council approval as the Conservative-run authority’s preferred bidder for the scheme in February, following a 10-month procurement process.
The association has promised to build at least 500 affordable homes on the regenerated estate, which currently has 441 council rent homes.
Queensway is now Swan’s third major regeneration project, along with Robin Hood Gardens in Tower Hamlets and the Purfleet-on-Thames scheme in Thurrock which gained outline planning permission last week.
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Porters Place Southend will now start work on creating a full masterplan for the site, with a target to submit a planning application in 2020.
The company is a 30-year 50-50 partnership between the council and Swan.
Some opposition councillors are understood to be angry about the agreement being reached so shortly before next month’s local elections.
The Queensway Estate is currently managed by the council’s ALMO, South Essex Homes, but will be managed by Porters Place Southend post-regeneration.
John Synnuck, chief executive of Swan, said: “We’ve been taking on complex regenerations just like Better Queensway for the past 25 years and so we are delighted to now have entered into partnership with Southend-on-Sea Borough Council so that, working together, we can bring about the long-awaited regeneration of Queensway.
“Our teams are very much looking forward to working with the council, the residents and local stakeholders at Queensway to develop a masterplan for Queensway which will make it a great place to live and work, and a place where everyone in Southend-on-Sea wants to go.”
Andy Lewis, deputy chief executive of Southend-on-Sea Borough Council, said: “This project will not only provide better housing and a better place for those currently living on the estate, it will also help to make this area a key entrance into our town centre and connect what will be a thriving new community with it and help to deliver a key part of our resident-led ambition for 2050.
“This is really just the beginning and there is much more work to be done. We are now collectively focused on the next stages.
“This includes working with stakeholders, including residents and businesses, to prepare a masterplan for submission for planning approval, and more will be announced in due course.”
