Stephen Gilbert MP was delighted to perform the opening ceremony: ““This is a fantastic high-quality scheme that will really help to meet the local need for affordable housing and I congratulate Ocean Housing and all involved for the investment that they have made in this scheme, particularly the creation of a bespoke community facility to sit alongside it.
“At least a third, if not a half, of my postbag is from people who are in housing need and we need to see more schemes of this sort of quality if we are going to move Cornwall away from the housing crisis we face. All good things start with the security of having a decent, affordable and stable housing and I’m delighted to see this scheme finished and open.”
David Renwick, Ocean Chief Executive, explained what made this development so special: “As well as providing 16 high quality homes this development is the first housing scheme where Ocean has provided a purpose-built community facility and we are just as excited about it as the residents.It’s now home to the newly formed Hensbarrow Court Residents’ Association and it’s great to see the accommodation being put to such good use.
“I would like to congratulate all the residents who have worked so hard to form the Association.We have been overwhelmed by your dedication and commitment to the neighbourhood.By coming together and sharing ideas, you have already created a real sense of community and you should be proud of what you have achieved.”
Donna Brown is the Association’s first chairperson:“This is a fantastic opportunity for the whole community in Foxhole, not just for Ocean residents.We’ve been given this wonderful building where our children can play together safely and we can help them develop into adults with a sense of pride in their community.
“It really has been a team effort to get our association off the ground and we couldn’t have done it without Ocean providingthis superb facility and without the support of the Tenant Involvement Team.Our open day for the community flat was a tremendous success and many people are keen to get involved.A project like this needs a great deal of enthusiasm and we have bucket loads of that here!”
Phillmore Court is the third phase of development at Foxhole.It provides an additional elevenproperties for affordable rent and five for shared ownership, bringing the total number of new homes built by Ocean at Foxhole to sixty two.This £2.2 million pound project has been funded by Ocean Housing, the Homes and Communities Agency who provided £903,000 in social housing grant funding and £144,000 from Cornwall Council.
The homes were designed by Ocean’s in house design consultancy and built by Gilbert & Goode; Ocean’s own construction company.All the properties have air source heat pump heating systems which provide efficient and environmentally friendly heating in rural areas and are much cheaper for families to run that traditional oil heating systems.The properties are all accredited with Code for Sustainable Homes level 3 certificates which means they have far less impact on the environment.
