New Housing for Disabled People in Ellon

A new 11-flat development being built at Park Road in Ellon, Aberdeenshire by Margaret Blackwood Housing Association will include two flats designed specifically around the needs of wheelchair users and one flat designed for older people or people or people who have restricted mobility.

One of the wheelchair-friendly flats has three bedrooms and is ideal for a family of up to five people. The second wheelchair-friendly flat has one double bedroom and a single bedroom, as does the older person's flat.

there are also eight flats for people with general housing needs two with one double and one single bedroom and six with two double bedrooms.

The new development, due to be completed in November this year, has been designed to be easy and inexpensive to heat with plenty of exterior insulation and a high-efficiency space and water-heating system. This is reflected in the first-class average SAP Energy Cost Rating of 111 across all 11 flats.

Peter Mountford-Smith, Chief Executive of Margaret Blackwood Housing Association, told us: "We specialise in designing and building innovative accessible, barrier-free housing and many of our latest designs can be easily and economically adapted to meet the changing needs of tenants throughout their lives."

"Many of our tenants have a disability of some sort and are quite likely to be on very restricted incomes. They will often spend more time at home and can often have circulation problems, so they really feel the cold."

"Having a house that is inexpensive to heat is very important to them, never more so than now given the rapidly rising costs of gas and electricity. Reducing power consumption also means we, as an organisation, are helping to reduce the impact of global warming."

Situated near to the centre of Ellon, not far from the River Ythan, Park Road is close to shops and other facilities. Both Ellon Primary School and Ellon Academy are nearby. The locality is mainly residential thought he site itself was a brownfield site that used to house light industrial units.

The overall cost of the development is £1.17 million, with £790,000 in Housing Association Grant coming from Communities Scotland. Ron Shanks Associates, the Aberdeen-based architect's practice, have designed the building, whilst construction is by another local company, Chap Construction (Aberdeen) Ltd., from Westhill.

For further information, contact Paul Leighton, Publicity & Communications Officer, telephone: 0131 317 0117, email PaulL@mbha.org.uk at Margaret Blackwood Housing Association.

30 June 2006

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