MP Elsie Blundell visits our new Rochdale Road East development

Heywood and Middleton North MP Elsie Blundell visited our newly completed Rochdale Road East project last Thursday to tour the building and meet staff.

Elsie was at the £5.3 million development in her constituency where we showed her some of the 40 sustainable apartments for affordable rent, built on the site of a former car wash.

Customers for the 16 one-bedroom and 24 two-bedroom flats in Heywood are due to arrive in the coming days, and all were taken from Rochdale Borough Council’s housing register.

“I'm really pleased with what First Choice Homes Oldham is doing in my constituency to help address the housing crisis. It's the number one issue that constituents raise with me,” the MP said.

“I think it looks absolutely brilliant from the outside and inside too. It's obviously been completed to a really high standard and I'm just really excited that my constituents are going to be able to benefit from these new apartments.”

She added: “I think it's fantastic that FCHO is supporting developments in the right places where my constituents want to live in and places from which they can access jobs and they can access schools.”

Our Executive Director of Corporate Services and Deputy Chief Executive Andy Ewart also briefed Elsie Blundell on our build pipeline in her constituency. We're looking to construct 27 at Bury Old Road in Heywood with the possibility of more to come.

Andy said: “Many thanks to Elsie for coming to see our new development in Heywood. It's important all our elected representatives get the chance to see the quality work we are doing and we're proud of these 40 high-quality, affordable and energy efficient homes.

“It's also important we demonstrate how we're doing our bit to address the housing crisis here in Rochdale borough.”

Rochdale Road East was built by Challenger Building Services for us. All the apartments are off gas and have an at least Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) B rating. There is a communal garden and an undercroft car park with 43 car parking spaces specifically for tenants with fob access.

The pipeline projects in Heywood are part of our strategy to build at least 600 homes across Oldham and Rochdale borough in the coming years following a recent £110 million refinancing.