General Needs Schemes

Type of scheme: Refurbishment of former Ministry of Defence homes.

Location: Oakapple Close, Colchester, Essex.

Partners: Iceni Homes, Colne Housing Society, Colchester Borough Council, developers Lovell Partnership, architects Stanley Bragg Partnership and the Homes and Communities Agency.

The development: A selection of 83 properties on Oakapple Close, Colchester will be available at affordable rents through Colchester Council's Choice-Based Lettings Scheme. The properties were acquired from Annington Homes, one of the largest private owners of residential property in the UK and whose primary business is the refurbishment and sale of former MoD homes. In February 2009, the MoD terminated the lease on these 83 homes as they were no longer needed and handed them back to Annington. It had been Annington’s intention to refurbish and sell these homes itself but a determined bid from Iceni Homes with a last minute intervention by Colchester Council completed the multi million pound funding deal.