A major housing project will get underway soon in Chancery Lane, Christ Church, as the Ministry of Housing, Lands and Maintenance, the National Housing Corporation (NHC) and HOPE Inc, plan to bring a significant development of affordable housing solutions for residents of the southern parish.
Speaking to residents on Friday at a town hall meeting at St Christopher Primary School, Minister of Housing, William Duguid said the new project is a spinoff from the recently launched HOPE Direct development at Lancaster St James for workers earning $4000 and less monthly.
The project in Chancery Lane, called HOPE Premium, will target workers earning between $4000 – $8000.
“HOPE Premium is a little different from HOPE Direct, in that HOPE Premium, the developer is the person who will be putting in the road infrastructure. The National Housing Corporation has a joint venture with its partner Preconco; we provide the land, and Preconco has done the designs, designed the road, will put in the infrastructure and do the sale process on behalf of the NHC, owner of the land,” Duguid said.
“This will not necessarily have the photovoltaic systems, but people can install the photovoltaic systems on their own accord. This is a slightly different one, and it’s also designed for a slightly different income market.”
Having already seen the designs of the structure of the homes himself, Duguid assured residents they should be excited about the new modern looking development being built in the area.
“[Precono] have done the designs, I am very happy with them, I think that they are very progressive, and it gives great opportunities for a managed residence district for the people of Chancery Lane, and I am sure that once this project is done, all of you will be proud to have such a wonderful project in your district,” he added.
Managing Director at Preconco, Mark Maloney told residents in the area that initial construction work for the road network will commence sometime in June. Some 70 homes will be built in the new development.
“It will be four phases, of approximately 70 homes. We are hoping to start construction in June, putting in all the roads and infrastructure, we estimate that will take three months. We are going to be putting up a model home, and then we will be launching our website, once we have the official groundbreaking [ceremony], that will have all the information and covenants and all the things that purchasers will need to see.
“We will be constructing approximately 15 homes a month, so it will be quite a rapid pace. The homes are going to be precast concrete homes, manufactured in Barbados. A lot of the products are going to be made off site then installed,” Maloney explained.
Maloney assured residents that the site will include a self-contained drainage network, to prevent flooding issues downhill from the development.
“The entire site is self-draining; no water will run off to other areas, and we are going to make sure of that. Not even the water from the properties will run onto the roads, there is a special drainage system that we are doing. I can assure you that there will be no effects to the main road or surrounding areas.” (SB)
