Building works are now underway on the first homes for Salford City Council’s new housing company, Dérive, providing much-needed affordable accommodation to rent.

Dérive has bought eight two and three-bedroomed homes off plan from Great Places Housing Group at its mixed tenure development at Duchy Road. In addition to the new homes, Great Places is working with Seddon Construction to maximise social value through the use of local suppliers and provision of work experience and apprenticeship opportunities for local residents.

In total, the development on Duchy Road will provide 72 new build two, three and four-bedroom family homes for affordable rent, shared ownership and market sale, offering a range of options to meet the needs of the local community. The homes, which are being built by Seddon, will be completed in 2020.

Salford City Mayor, Paul Dennett, took part in a sod-cutting ceremony at the site alongside Matthew Harrison, Chief Executive and Helen Spencer, Director of Development at Great Places Housing Group and Jonathan Seddon, CEO from contractor Seddon.

Dérive was set up in 2018 with £2 million of Section 106 money from developers, along with other funds from the council. Eventually the business model will self-finance the affordable housing by selling some of the houses and letting others at market rents.

Salford City Mayor Paul Dennett said: “I’d like to thank our partner Great Places and Seddon for making these plans come to life. There are 39 bids for every affordable home we advertise and homeless presentations continue to rise. People are desperate for affordable homes.”

Chair of Dérive, Councillor John Merry, said: “We have  set up our own company so we can provide much-needed, truly affordable homes for local people in our city. The overall aim through Dérive is to provide around 900 homes by 2021, thanks to our strong relationships with local housing providers.”

Helen Spencer, director of development at Great Places Housing Group, said: “We’re thrilled to be delivering a mixed tenure range of new homes on Duchy Road, working alongside Derive on what is a flagship development that will deliver more much-needed affordable homes in Salford.

“Affordable housing continues to be a key priority for all of the areas we operate in and Great Places remains committed to creating great homes across a wide variety of communities. We recognise the key role we have to play as a developer and we’re always on the look out for land to build additional affordable homes like those at Duchy Road.”

Jonathan Seddon, CEO at Seddon, said: “We’re delighted to be involved in the Duchy Road scheme and to be building more affordable homes in Salford.

“This project will be a flagship development for everyone involved and it’s fantastic to be working hand-in-hand with Dérive and Great Places to bring developments like this one to life.”