‘My home is lovely and cosy – it’s perfect’ - homes built on former garage sites are completed

Salma Mbarouk is a customer who has moved into one of the homes with her husband and two children. She described her house as perfect.

She said: “I love my house so much – it’s nice and cosy and it’s warm even with the heating off. I can’t fault it.

“It’s beautiful and amazingly done, my kids love it and it’s their safe place.

“Our previous house was too small, and I was sharing a room with my 10-year-old daughter and this is the first time she has been able to sleep in her own room – she loves having her own space.

“The garden and the kitchen are my places in the house. The garden is spacious, and I can put my children’s toys out there and I love cooking which I can do in the kitchen. When I moved in here, it felt amazing.”

The homes at the development were built using timber frames which is a modern method of construction that speeds up the build process and is more sustainable. The frames are made in LoCaL’s factory in Walsall before being transported to Coventry, where Excelsior Land assembles and completed the build.

Our Executive Director of Development Nick Byrne said: “It’s fantastic to hand over these homes to our customers across our eight garage sites in Coventry and we’re thrilled to hear how much Salma loves her new home.

“This is a great example of working with our partners to make a positive difference to people living in our communities and we have also transformed brownfield sites across the city to help provide more affordable homes.

“We hope Salma and the rest of our customers enjoy living in their homes at our garage site development.”

The homes are a mix of one and three bed houses as well as one and two bed bungalows. 

Eoin O’Cearbhhaill from Excelsior Land said: “We’re absolutely delighted to have worked with Citizen on this landmark project. Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do, and it’s been a pleasure partnering with a housing association that truly embraces innovation and new technologies.

“Using modern methods of construction has allowed us to deliver high-quality, energy-efficient homes more quickly while reducing the overall carbon footprint of the build.

“Beyond the construction itself, we’ve really enjoyed working within the Coventry communities, meeting local residents, and seeing how these new homes are positively transforming former brownfield sites into vibrant neighbourhoods once again.

Councillor Naeem Akhtar from Coventry City Council said: “This is excellent news. Building homes of a high standard is so important especially on Garage Sites like this one.

“I visited the homes on Henley Road at the beginning of the year, and it was great to see such an innovative approach being applied. Sections of the homes were literally lifted into place.

“This is all about providing good housing for people who need it most.”

Mike Doolan, Sales and Partnerships Manager from LoCaL Homes said: “We are delighted to have been a key delivery partner on this development which deployed a creative use of brownfield land to address local housing need. With construction complete, we have helped provide 19 new affordable homes across eight locations in Coventry.”

“Our off-site manufactured Eco-200 timber frame solutions, complete with brick slips, helped speed up construction time on site and produced less waste when compared to traditional building methods. The incoming residents can expect to pay  lower fuel bills thanks to the thermal-efficiency of our fabric-first approach.”