TOPPING OUT CEREMONY MARKS IMPORTANT MILESTONE IN CREATION OF NEW HOMES FOR NORWICH

An important milestone in the creation of 323 new homes on Norwich’s riverside has been marked by a traditional topping out ceremony – with ale from local brewer Woodforde’s being poured over the roof of the fourth and final building of Broadland Housing’s Canary Quay development.

Broadland Housing’s chair Chris Ewbank and executive development director Andrew Savage were joined by Paul Cushing and Alex Mackayof constructors R.G.Carter to perform the ceremony, which marks the completion of the structure and roof of the final building, which will deliver 101 new homes – 46 for shared ownership and 55 to be sold on the open market.

Built on Geoffrey Watling Way on land formerly owned by Norwich City Football Club, Canary Quay offers a mixture of social housing, affordable homes and open market properties.  Broadland Housing acquired the land in 2010, and the first residents moved in in 2019, with the first apartments made available for affordable rent.

The final building will also provide a second ‘podium’ for the development, a raised garden and open space for residents overlooking the river Wensum.

Chris Ewbank, chair of Broadland Housing, said, “One of our priorities is to provide much-needed affordable homes for the people living in the city.  Canary Quay is an important part of the solution.

“This has been an ambitious project which has taken a very strong partnership to deliver.  What we have created here is a vibrant new community for the city, as well as over 300 much-needed new homes, many of them made available for affordable rent and for shared ownership to allow local people to get on the housing ladder in an affordable way.”

Paul Cushing, preconstruction director at R G Carter said, “We are excited to reach this important and final milestone at the Canary Quay development.  It’s been a real pleasure to work with the Broadland Housing Association team and support their vision for regeneration and transformation in Norwich.

“We want to thank everyone who has played a role in getting us to this moment in the project and look forward to handing over the development in the coming months.”

Chris Stammers, director and architect at Ingleton Wood, which is providing architectural services for the Canary Quay project, said, “We are delighted to continue our engagement in the Canary Quay development with the topping out of the final project phase. 

“The completion of this block of 101 homes represents the final piece in the jigsaw of the wider masterplan. We are excited to see the completed street scene and, most importantly, the completion of this riverside community.”

The apartments in phase 4 of Canary Quay will be marketed shortly, with residents expected to move in in spring 2023.