Morgan Sindall Construction marks key milestone at Victoria Road development with 'topping out' ceremony

On Thursday 2nd December, an important milestone was celebrated in the construction of the £11m council housing development on Victoria Road, Portslade.

The scheme is being delivered for Brighton & Hove City Council under the New Homes and Neighbourhoods programme, and will see the construction of 42 one, two and three-bedroom council homes on the land adjacent to Portslade Town Hall.

After being appointed as the main contractor and beginning construction on the Victoria Road development in April of this year, Morgan Sindall Construction’s Southern Home Counties business has reached this significant moment in the build on schedule, and is on course to be finished in Autumn 2022.

Several key figures within Brighton & Hove City Council attended the ceremony including co-chairs of the council’s Housing Committee, Councillor David Gibson and Councillor Siriol Hugh-Jones, alongside other councillors from the Housing Committee and the South Portslade ward.

The Victoria Road project team worked with Sigmat – an offsite construction specialist – and opted for a lightweight steel frame, instead of reinforced concrete. This decision was in line with findings found from Morgan Sindall Construction's carbon assessment tool, CarboniCa, which helped save the project 177 tonnes of carbon.

Guy Hannell, area director at Morgan Sindall Construction, said: “It is a delight to invite so many key stakeholders to the site on Victoria Road and showcase the progress that has been made so far.

“Morgan Sindall Construction has heavily invested in making sure the Brighton & Hove community is engaged with the project and that the local area reaps as much benefit as possible from the work that’s taking place.”

Councillor David Gibson, co-chair of the Brighton & Hove City Council Housing Committee, said: “It is exciting to see these new council homes becoming a reality.

“This is a ground-breaking project – the homes have been designed to go further than previous projects towards the council’s carbon neutral targets for 2030, including the first ground source heat pumps achieved on a council housing scheme.

“For the first time, we’re carrying out a full carbon assessment on this housing development and we’ll then be able to use the scheme as a benchmark to improve upon for our future council housing developments.

“When the flats are completed next year, the residents can look forward to low energy bills and high-quality homes.

“As well as high sustainability standards, I am delighted that this innovative project provides a big boost of 42 additional affordable council homes - building on the 200 plus additional homes delivered in our first two years to help address the housing crisis facing low-income households in our city.”

The Southern Home Counties team has regularly engaged with the project’s neighbours and has put in place special processes, such as timed deliveries and traffic management systems, to minimise disruption to the surrounding community as much as possible.

The scheme is part of a wider Brighton & Hove City Council four-year plan to provide 800 new affordable accommodation units within the city.

• For more information about this news release please contact Edward Hawkins at Influential on 0161 932 1083 or email [email protected]