Mid Devon District Council’s latest development, St Andrews House, is now fully occupied.

The six new properties, which consist of three, two-bedroom apartments and three, one-bedroom apartments, have now been completed with the new tenants moving in during March.

Ellie, and her partner, moved into their new apartment recently and have already settled in, saying:

“We are extremely grateful and feel very lucky to have got a property at St Andrews House. It is a huge relief that we will not be in temporary housing anymore and we will welcome our baby in our lovely permanent home. We love the flat, it’s so bright and airy and we never want to leave.”

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St. Andrews House, built in partnership with ZED PODS, delivered zero-carbon homes on a council-owned site which was previously occupied by garages. The modular nature of the development enabled the Council to bring forward a constrained site, and in doing so, the scheme received the Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) award in the South West’s Constructing Excellence Awards for 2023.

The site at St Andrews was the first development that had received funding through the first round of Brownfield Land Release Funding to break ground nationally. A further eight units at Shapland Place in Tiverton are also due for completion in the spring of 2024.

Tom Northway, Chairman of Zed Pods, said:

“We are delighted to see that Ellie has moved into our first modular zero-operational carbon scheme in partnership with Mid Devon. Working with Zed Pods enables forward thinking councils like Mid Devon District Council to transform constrained brownfield sites, providing exceptional social rented homes under a full turnkey design and build package.

“These houses are of the very best design in terms of environmental performance and internal specifications, providing low energy bills for the residents. We have worked closely with Mid Devon District Council and local suppliers during all the stages of development, thereby bring a concept to its fruition. Great to see that the tenant has liked her new home, which is the best possible outcome for this exemplar 100% affordable scheme.”

A further six regeneration sites have been identified and awarded £660k in funding by HM Government via the Brownfield Land Release Fund (BLRF2), which enables the Council to bring forward surplus land for more than 50 new homes.

The Council is also working on proposals for eight other sites in Mid Devon which will generate more than 30 additional homes for local people – information on all of these developments can be found on the Mid Devon Housing Development Hub.

Councillor Simon Clist, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Housing and Property Services, said:

“It’s an exciting time for the Council, with this development kick-starting a series of housing developments in district.”

“Providing more affordable housing for local people was identified as one of single-most important things we could do to improve the quality of life in our community. We’re proud to be addressing these issues, building towards our housing targets and working towards our net-zero by 2030 ambitions.”