Countryside Properties will work on the project to build 149 new homes, 98 of them council owned and managed, on the site just north of the A13.The council has been gradually moving residents out of the three tower blocks which will be demolished early next year.
Of the 149 new homes, 98 will be council houses with 51 for private sale. Most of the homes (72 per cent) will be three or four bedroom family houses. The remainder will be two bed flats in low rise buildings. Fourteen of the homes will be designed for wheelchair use. A shop will also be included in the development.
The three 16 storey 1960s tower blocks will be replaced with high quality low rise housing designed by Stitch Architects & Urban Designers and Mae Architects. Work is expected to start in early 2013 with completion expected around March 2015.
Goresbrook Village achieved national fame when it featured on the Channel 4 series Tower Block of Commons in 2010. It is one of three housing estates which are being regenerated as part of Barking and Dagenham Council’s Estate Renewal Programme. The others are Leys in Dagenham and Gascoigne in Barking.
Cllr Phil Waker, Cabinet Member for Housing, Barking and Dagenham Council, said: “Goresbrook Village had reached the end of its natural life, so we took the decision to include this in our programme of estate renewal rather than spend millions trying to renovate the flats. Having appointed a developer we should be ready to build as soon as the flats are pulled down. The quicker we can build, the better, as local families are crying out for more new homes to be built.
“We have now built 146 new council houses and 477 new homes for affordable rent will soon be built in the William Street Quarter and Thames View areas of Barking. Add to this new council flats to be built in Abbey Road, the retirement bungalows in Wood Lane and Rainham Road South in Dagenham that we will build next year, a joint building programme with the church in Marks Gate, the new homes that will be built as part of the regeneration of the Leys and Gascoigne estates, as well as other projects that we are also planning to bring forward as soon as we can. It should be clear to everyone that housing is a high priority for this council.”