The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) has appointed Kier Partnership Homes as preferred development partner for the high profile Castle College site on the edge of Sheffield city centre.

The £9m project will see the transformation of the 2.7ha former college site at the corner of Granville Street, Granville Road and Clay Wood into a vibrant new residential development. The scheme will comprise 84 two, three and four-bed houses, of which 25 will be much needed affordable housing for shared ownership and rent.

Kier has been working in partnership with the HCA, Sheffield City Council and stakeholders since its appointment to refine the designs and submit a planning application in order to enable work to start on site this spring. Following on from the community consultation, which took place in December, Kier and its partners will find out in March whether planning consent will be granted.

Kier Partnership Homes' managing director, Chris King, said "We are excited that the scheme is in for planning and are confident of a positive outcome. The project team has worked in partnership throughout reinforcing our one-team approach to the regeneration programme for the HCA and Sheffield City Council. Our homes are built to the highest quality and will represent value for money to the buyers."

Project manager for the HCA, Tracy Gordon, commented: "A lot of hard work has gone into this scheme in order to accelerate the delivery of a high quality, desirable and affordable housing development, which will provide vital new homes once planning consent is achieved."

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