Turning offices into homes could provide a boost to Hull’s social housing, as Hull City Council takes steps to buy a prominent Beverley Road property.
The council is working on plans to convert the building – 337-341 Beverley Road – into 16 self-contained flats.
It has been the base for Alan Wood & Partners, with the engineering firm relocating elsewhere in the city in order to operate from more modern premises.
Subject to a successful application for grant funding, the flats would be created for people on the council’s social housing waiting list.
Portfolio Holder for Economic Renewal, Housing & Organisational Development, Councillor Paul Drake-Davis, said: “This acquisition will allow the council to deliver much needed council homes, and ensure that a building on one of the major routes into the city centre can be put to good use and help with the housing crisis.
“There had been a previous deal in place for this building, where a developer had proposed a large House in Multiple Occupancy (HMO).
“That deal fell through, allowing us to authorise this sensible strategic purchase, which supports the central aims of the council’s Housing Growth Plan – creating and building more affordable homes for those in need.”
The building is located in a part of the city which is imminently going to see housing improvements through the next phase of the council’s Priority Streets programme.
The targeted private housing intervention, which will start next year, will include improvements to frontages and gardens and the renewal of communal footpaths.
The programme identifies and assesses areas which would substantially benefit from regeneration works, where this acquisition and conversion to high quality, self-contained council homes aligns with the programme’s intention of improving the housing market in those areas.
