Uncertain future for Hull pathfinder

Since the publication of the Comprehensive Spending Review, it has become clear that there is no bespoke funding for housing market renewal beyond March 2011 and that potential future funding is unlikely to be secured in time to allow the current programme to continue uninterrupted.

All remaining funding must therefore be used to meet legal and contractual commitments and all other activity has had to be put on hold, including the current phases of acquisition in Newington St. Andrew's, Ings and Preston Road.

The Gateway team has informed the residents affected and is putting in place a range of measures to support people through this period of uncertainty. Hull City Council is doing everything possible to secure alternative funding and in the meantime has allocated a limited amount of emergency funding to allow those residents who were due to move before Christmas to do so. This decision to re-direct funding from a number of other capital projects has been taken with the support of all political groups.

Laura Carr, Hull City Council's Acting Head of Service for Housing Investment and Renewal said: “Our top priority will be to provide information and support for residents who are in the current phases of acquisition.

“We do understand that residents whose homes are proposed for demolition or refurbishment in future phases will also have concerns. At this stage, the long-term plans are unchanged. Whilst phases that were planned for this year and next are clearly affected by the spending reductions the timing of phases beyond next year will depend, as it always did, on the availability of funding at that time.”

Site Manager's update - Anlaby Rd

Currently paving & gravelling to front gardens, and installing metal fencing.
brickwork to wall 540 & 518. A few hours lost to rain last month. We are dropping back to complete the late sign ups and do any works variations. No accidents to report since last site meeting. All brickwork to late sign ups should be completed by 2/07/10 and all paving & gravelling to gardens complete by 16/07/10. We are on course to complete as per our programme

Next stop Malm St

H&P has been awarded a further phase of works at Malm St - whilst working on the last project at Alliance Ave our resident liaison officer Pauline Steele offered to help Gateway by getting all the necessary resident consents for Malm Street Pauline managed to sign up around 65 houses, meaning that when the work starts this month we will be able to carry it out faster and more efficiently, which makes life easier for H&P, Gateway, and local residents.

It's amazing what a face-lift can do!

When Tanya Flint move in with her partner Andy Asquith almost three years ago, her home was part of a melting pot of Victorian terraces with different colour walls and exteriors.

Tanya lives on Alliance Avenue with her four children Olivia, eight, Chloe, six, Rosie-May, two, and 10-month old Phoebe-Marie and says its a joy to live in the street now.

"Before, all the outside walls were different and the street looked very tatty. Now it looks brilliant" she said.

"We've had new fascias, new guttering, a new front wall and path and the outside has been painted. It's lovely to walk down the street now.

Gateway wins top regeneration award

Neighbourhood Regeneration Agency Gateway and NPS Humber Ltd have won a prestigious award from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

The award for 'Best Regeneration Initiative' in Yorkshire and Humber, recognises the impact of the excellent frontage improvement programme on Plane Street, Sandringham Street and St George's Road in Newington St Andrew's, West Hull. This was the first phase of the frontage improvement programme which has now seen over 1,000 homes revitalised.

Initiated by Gateway, and managed and designed by property consultants NPS Humber Limited, the £3.7m external facelift scheme saw over 300 homes on Plane Street, Sandringham Street and St George's Road improved to their former glory.

The aim of the scheme was to restore the three streets through reinstating the original Victorian character. Work included new fascias, gutters and rainwater pipes, reinstatement of bay windows, renewal of existing bay roof coverings, new windows and doors, new front boundary walls and railings, brickwork, render and joinery repairs and external redecoration where necessary.

Pauline Davis, Strategic Director at Gateway said: "I am delighted to see this scheme being recognised by the panel. It has had a real impact on the local area, and particularly the residents living there. Local people have started to further invest in their homes as result of the scheme and it has generated a real sense of pride."

Phil Vozza FRICS of NPS Humber Ltd said: "I am delighted that this award has been won against stiff opposition from other major cities in the Yorkshire region. This recognises the highest standard of the work carried out by all of those involved in the scheme".

The frontage improvement programme is part of Gateway's multi-million pound investment in Newington and St Andrew's, which will see over 2,000 new homes, frontage improvements to over 2,900 homes, demolition of 1,800 densely packed terraces, a network of new and improved parks, a potential new secondary school, new inner city allotments, restored historic features and revitalised shopping areas.

Towards Zero Defects Part 2

As a regional Think Zero champion H&P is always looking for ways to improve quality and reduce defects at handover. By managing defects on Gateway projects at site level the number of defects has reduced and resident satisfaction has increased - and using our new web portal H&P Collaborate, we can now offer our clients live access to our defects reporting system.

A day in the life of Pauline Steele

We dropped in on resident liaison officer Pauline Steele to find out how the works were progressing as they near completion. "We're handing over dozens of properties each week as we get closer to the contract finish date in April" said Pauline "and things have got a lot easier now the sun's come out. I've also been spending time getting the next project at Malm St ready, making sure that we have all the owners signed up so that works can progress as smoothly as possible". This is Pauline's first project with Hobson & Porter, but has many years experience of resident liaison with Connaught on Decent Homes projects. Before we left we dropped in on local resident Brian Toole at De La Pole Avenue.