WORKS STARTS ON 88 NEW HOMES IN HINGHAM
Hingham Town Council chairman Pete Eldridge and Tom Cowin from the Hingham Society joined local house builder Tony Abel to break the ground on a 9.1 acre site in the town where 88 new energy-efficient family homes are to be built.
South Norfolk Council’s Planning Committee granted unanimous approval in March for Abel Homes to build the new homes off Norwich Road in Hingham, and the Watton-based house builder pledged to make a start on the site this year.
The new development will be called ‘The Hops’, in recognition of the fact that the land used to belong to Bear’s House and Farm, owned by Charles Crawshay, a 19th century brewer and partner in Youngs, Crawshay and Youngs brewery.
The 88 new homes will be highly energy-efficient and sustainable, with features such as photo-voltaic solar panels, triple glazing and high insulation levels. All the new houses will have an ‘A’ rated Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), the highest achievable rating for energy efficiency.
The new houses feature an innovative design which has taken its cue from an award-winning Conran-designed development in Norwich, also built by Abel Homes. They will offer fibre broadband direct to each home, as well as electric garage doors and floor coverings to every room as standard.
As part of the development, Abel Homes will create a public open space, and has also made a commitment to provide a piece of public artwork on every site where it builds homes.
Abel Homes managing director said, “We are delighted to be bringing much-needed family homes to Hingham, a town I like very much - it has everything you need and is well placed geographically. In fact we built our very first new homes in Hingham exactly 20 years ago.
The town needs good quality, affordable, energy-efficient homes, and that is what we are building here. But it’s not just about the bricks and mortar; we are creating a really attractive new community, and we have designed the development to achieve that aim.
“The fact that the planning committee passed our proposal unanimously shows that we pitched our plans just right for the local community – something we are in a good position to do, as we live and work locally and therefore really understand Norfolk’s housing needs.”
Joining Mr Abel to cut the first sod on the site was Hingham Town Council chair Pete Eldridge, who said, “Hingham has been designated for 100 new homes by South Norfolk Council, and I am pleased that we will see the majority of these built in one go, by a local house builder.
“I have seen Abel homes in Watton, and with their solar panels they are highly energy-efficient, which is good for the climate, and something I would like to see more of.”
The new homes at Hingham will feature a mix of one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom houses, as well as a number of bungalows. Twenty-eight of the houses will be affordable homes
The showhome will open in the spring; further details of the new homes at The Hops in Hingham are available at www.abelhomes.co.uk.