Here you’ll be able to find all the latest news and information on what’s happening at Brake Farm.
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Brake Farm FAQs
What is happening to Brake Farm?
In March 2024 we announced that we’d been looking at the future of Brake Farm and at several options for the housing with support scheme, including refurbishing or demolishing the main buildings.
Brake Farm is an old, sheltered scheme built more than 50 years ago on a difficult to access steep site with lots of steps. It has many bedsits; the main building has no lift, and the building simply isn’t up to modern expectations or standards.
The welfare of our residents is always our top priority, and the long-term future of the scheme has been considered, and we want to ensure that Brake Farm can provide supported housing for future generations.
So, we wrote to and spoke to all residents of the scheme to tell them we would be demolishing the main buildings and replacing it with a new, modern, fit for purpose building.
This option will allow us to increase the number of homes in the scheme which will ease the pressure on existing housing and provide accessible and energy efficient homes for older people
What are you building?
We have appointed a firm of architects to help us draw up some early design ideas for the new building. We’re still at early stages of the process, but our intention is to provide more information as we start to move forward and to do that in consultation with residents.
What is the latest information about rehoming previous residents?
Last year we committed to helping and supporting affected residents to move to somewhere they would feel safe, happy and comfortable. That process started in March 2024 and almost all of the 53 residents affected are now settled in their new homes. We’re delighted that almost all the residents who have moved have stayed with PCH, and most have stayed in PCH sheltered housing. There are just a handful of residents left at Brake Farm sheltered scheme now and we expect they will move within the next six months.
What about the remaining residents on the estate?
Our March 2024 announcement included speaking to residents of the 15 the sheltered scheme bungalows at Brake Farm to explain they will not be demolished. Our Housing with Support officers continue to provide support to these residents individually as they always have, and this will continue unchanged by the redevelopment of the main buildings.
A team of Rehoming Staff have been on site at Brake Farm for the last year and have also been available to all local residents, to talk to about what’s happening and let us know about any concerns they may have.
When will you be able to let people know what the plans for the new development are?
We anticipate that the preliminary drawings will be available by the end of 2025. Once we have plans in place that we can show you, we will be reaching out to residents, stakeholders and the local community to come and help us develop those plans further through a series of drop-in and consultation sessions.
I see a lot of contractors carrying out surveys in the area, what does that mean?
You may have seen some contracted surveyors carrying out various surveys around the area, including marking up paths and pavements with spray-paint. These are routine at this early stage of a development project, for example the surveyors may be marking where gas and water mains are to feedback to our architects in order to help them with their proposals for the site.
Will the development still be older person’s housing?
We are committed to building a supported housing scheme to offer accommodation to older residents and ease the shortage of housing for older persons in the city.
How long will the project take?
Development projects are very difficult to predict. Many stages like obtaining planning permission and choosing the right building partner can be unpredictable in terms of the time it may take. Very early plans are for demolition in 2026, and we need to work with Plymouth City Council planning teams during 2026 and 2027 as we refine the plans for the site. We have an estimated build completion date of early 2028.
What happens to the main building between now and when it’s demolished? Will someone be looking after it?
There’ll be a period of time when the main building at Brake Farm has no residents, but we won’t have started demolition. Plymouth Community Homes is used to managing this situation – we had lots of empty buildings to manage when we regenerated North Prospect for example. We will always aim to ensure the area is safe, well looked after, and that we respond to any concerns local people may have.
Our team of Housing with Support Officers will continue to be on site supporting the sheltered bungalow residents as normal so they’ll also be keeping an eye on things.
Because some buildings including the external flats will be empty for long periods, we’re considering other ideas to make sure they don’t deteriorate. We will keep residents and others informed if we make decisions about this.
How can I be kept updated?
As we have more information to let residents and the local community know, we will aim to update. The best way to be kept updated is to sign up to our Brake Farm newsletter at the top of this page.
Who can I contact if I have any questions or concerns?
You can contact us with any questions or concerns on 0808 230 6500 or brake.farm@pch.co.uk
