Work complete on Downhill's £7.6million new Keelman Rise housing development in Sunderland

Gentoo Group has announced that a £7.6 Million housing scheme, creating 56 new homes has now been completed on the Keelman Rise development in Downhill.
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The development was built by EQUANS and is part of the housing association’s regeneration of the site off Kidderminster Road.

Forty-eight two and three-bedroom homes and eight two-bedroom bungalows make up the final phase of the development.

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Gentoo is committed to creating 1,200 affordable homes in Sunderland by 2026. Keelman Rise is the first development to be completed since the group announced its plans in 2019.

Keelman Rise in Downhill.Keelman Rise in Downhill.
Keelman Rise in Downhill.

The homes were made available to those registered on Gentoo’s allocations system HomeHunt. The first new residents moved in during Spring 2021.

Gentoo say the housing was created with the existing community in mind and that disruption was kept to a minimum. The EQUANS site team, alongside local volunteers and Gentoo employees, conducted litterpicks on the green space that backs on to the site.

Joanne Gordon, Gentoo’s development director, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have completed work on our Keelman Rise development, the first in our major multi-million pound investment into creating a new era of affordable housing in Sunderland.

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“The development has provided high-quality, modern homes for over one hundred Gentoo tenants and we’ve received brilliant feedback from those now living in these new homes.

"I look forward to working with EQUANS to deliver more vital affordable homes to the area over the coming year.”

Louise Buckton, new build director at EQUANS, said: “It is great to see the full Keelman Rise development come together now that the site team has started to put the finishing touches on the last of the 56 new homes.

“All the homes are very visually striking, and hopefully appeal to future residents too, who can benefit from a modern, high-quality property which gives them the space to be able to spend many happy years living in their new home.

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“I want to pass on my personal thanks and congratulations to the EQUANS site team, who have worked so hard throughout the pandemic to keep the project on-track and to our usual high standards.”

More information can be found on Gentoo’s website.

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