Providing new homes
Customer feedback on Lever Gardens
“There’s already a strong sense of community here and I’ve been busy enjoying a lot of the onsite activities. It feels like it’s given me a new lease of life; I’ve even started baking again.”
Pauline (centred) with the Mayor and Mayoress
We’re building new homes to help tackle the significant shortage of affordable and sustainable housing in the region.
Our new homes are a mix of housing we develop ourselves, with grant funding from Homes England, and homes bought at a discount from private housing developers through Section 106 Affordable Housing Agreements.
In 2023/24 we developed new homes of varying sizes and specifications to meet the diverse housing needs of our customers.
We also built our first new build Extra Care scheme at Lever Gardens Court. The development provides 62 apartments for residents aged 55 and over who need some care to live independently. Each home offers a modern living area, an intercom system, and an emergency alarm to call for assistance if needed. Residents have access to 24-hour tailored care and support, landscaped gardens, on-site parking, communal spaces, and a programme of events and activities. There are also six bungalows that allow for residents to opt in to our Careline community alarm service.
Customer feedback on Lever Gardens
“We love the community feel at Lever Gardens and the level of quality support we’ve received since moving in. It gives us peace of mind that if anything were to happen to one of us, then the other would be cared for in a safe and secure environment.”
Kathleen and Michael
Meeting a wide range of housing needs
This year, we reached a significant milestone by completing our 1,000th new home since we started developing in 2012.
Our approach to new builds allows us to offer more housing choices by developing homes with a mix of tenures, including social rent, affordable rent, shared ownership, and Rent to Buy. This allows us to provide suitable affordable homes for a wide range of individuals and families in different circumstances.
During the year we completed 252 new energy-efficient homes and began work on a further 249 homes on various sites.
As of 31 March 2024, we have 412 properties in contract or under construction, including a mix of bungalows, apartments, houses and adapted properties.
We’re also looking forward to the completion of the high-profile Moor Lane development in Bolton’s town centre, which is expected in October 2024. In total, we’re aiming for 232 new homes to be completed by March 2025.
Improving energy performance and lowering bills
Our new homes are all built to the latest building regulations, which means they have better insulation and lower running costs.
Some of our new homes also use innovative technologies, such as air source heat pumps, to help reduce running costs and carbon dioxide emissions. We continue to monitor carbon dioxide emissions in our properties as part of our journey to becoming net zero carbon.
How new homes benefit our whole community
Building new homes increases the number of properties we have available, which helps us to generate more income through rent and sales of shared ownership homes.
This allows us to invest more into our existing housing stock and our communities, and most importantly, supports local people to move into their own homes.
We’ll continue to strive to deliver a significant number of new homes each year, just as we have achieved this year.
Finding a home for rent
Once completed, we advertise new homes for rent through the Homes for Bolton website at www.homesforbolton.org.uk/choice/ or other local choice-based letting systems.
You can find more information about what’s involved and what you can expect at www.boltonathome.org.uk/apply-for-a-home.
Finding a home for shared ownership
We market our shared ownership properties under the name Stonecross Homes. You can get more information on Stonecross Homes, available properties, and shared ownership, at www.boltonathome.org.uk/shared-ownership.