10 new council homes in Warren Crescent

Built on a former garage site, all 10 homes have three bedrooms. They are adaptable to cope with people’s changing needs, with high space standards, the scope to convert downstairs toilets to wet rooms and provision for through floor lifts.

Affordable

Four homes are being let at social rent and the remaining six are being let at affordable rent, all to people on the housing register.

Social rent is calculated with reference to the size and value of a home and average regional incomes. This means Oxford council tenants typically pay around 40% of the rent a private landlord would charge for the same home.

While the government defines affordable rent as up to 80% of an equivalent private rent, the council’s tenancy strategy bases it on local housing allowance (LHA) levels. For council tenants, affordable rent is around 60-65% of the rent a private tenant would pay.

Sustainable

All OX Place developments take a ‘fabric first’ approach, with enhanced insulation and air tightness standards that maximise energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions.

With the use of solar PV panels, these mean that Warren Crescent achieves an average 68% improvement on government carbon reduction targets – in excess of the council’s planning requirement to go 40% beyond building regulations.

The new homes have an average energy performance certificate rating of 96A.

Partners

The new homes were designed by Kendall Kingscott and built by RJ Leighfield & Sons. Their development was supported with £460,000 in funding from the Oxfordshire Housing and Growth Deal.

Comment

“Oxford badly needs more genuinely affordable homes, and the city council is delivering on our plan to supply them with our biggest housebuilding programme since the 1970s. I’m really excited for the ten local families who will soon be making themselves at home in these extremely high quality new properties.”

Councillor Linda Smith, Cabinet Member for Housing

“Our mission at OX Place is to deliver design-led affordable homes that are comfortable and sustainable, and that will provide a home for life. We’re proud to be building the homes that Oxford needs.”

Helen Horne, Managing Director of OX Place