Funding secured for 80 new social homes at Plymouth city centre development site
10 October 25
Plymouth Community Homes and Plymouth City Council have secured vital grant funding from Homes England to enable works to start on creating 80 new homes for social rent in Plymouth city centre.
Plymouth Community Homes (PCH) will work in close partnership with Plymouth City Council to deliver a new, eco-friendly neighbourhood on land off Bath Street in the Millbay regeneration area, which will eventually provide up to 135 affordable homes overall for social rent, as well as shared ownership purchase, to meet local housing need.
The £33.5m scheme will create a brand new community on the temporary car park bordering Martin Street, with energy-efficient new homes made available for those on the waiting list for a social home, as well as communal gardens created featuring children’s play areas in open green spaces, and commercial business units.
The scheme was awarded full planning permission at the end of 2023, and PCH and PCC have now jointly secured the necessary grant funding from Homes England to enable building work to get started. Grants and funding contributions from Plymouth City Council totalling in excess of £5m from the Plan for Homes, and funding from PCH of £14.2m through loans and subsidies, have also been agreed.
The first phase of an expected three phases will begin in February-March 2026 with appointed contractors Classic Builders on site, and deliver 80 homes for social rent and one unit for commercial rent. Social homes will include a mix of 1 and 2 bed flats and 3 bed houses and will be available to households on the Devon Home Choice waiting list.
Andrew Lawrie, Head of Development at Plymouth Community Homes, said: “Substantial grant funding was essential to enable this major affordable housing scheme to happen at Bath Street and this is a tremendous outcome, enabling us to make a start to the regeneration of this area of Plymouth city centre so we can deliver a large number of much-needed new homes for those on the waiting list for a social rent home.
“We are really grateful to our partners Plymouth City Council for their support in helping us secure the necessary Government funding, and to Homes England for their unprecedented level of grant support which has unlocked our ability to bring forward this development and get started.”
Councillor Chris Penberthy, Cabinet Member for Housing, Communities and Cooperative Development, said: "I am so pleased to secure the funding from Homes England for what we believe will be a truly catalytic project for the transformation of the city centre and the delivery of 10,000 new homes.
"This, for me, is what the Plan for Homes is all about - bringing partners together and accessing funding to unlock sites like this that the market would not ordinarily consider viable.
"Because of this our extensive partnership working over a long period of time, we can now move forward to deliver a mix and range of well-designed and sustainable affordable homes which are needed to ease the pressures of the housing crisis."
Shahi Islam, Director of Affordable Housing Grants at Homes England, said: “As the Government’s housing and regeneration agency, increasing the supply of quality affordable homes remains one of our key objectives and we are committed to supporting Plymouth Community Homes to achieve their ambitions.
“The eco-friendly development at Bath Street is a prime example of how we are working collaboratively with partners to achieve our mission to build thriving communities that people can be proud to call home.”
Completion of the first 80 homes in the scheme is estimated to take place by early 2029. Before construction works can start, some ground investigation works are taking place.
In preparation for the works, the council will close Martin Street car park from Friday 31 October.
Photo credit: Final completed scheme - BDP Architects & PCH
