Nottingham Community Housing Association and its partners have put the finishing touches to Loughborough’s Thomas Cook Place, and the development of affordable homes has now been officially opened.

The site forms part of Charnwood Borough Council's Eastern Gateway regeneration project, which has transformed the previously derelict area around Loughborough’s railway station.

As the builders move out, the area's new residents have started to move in. The homes on the site have been built by Loughborough-based contractor and developer, William Davis Ltd, using locally-sourced suppliers. The properties incorporate low carbon technologies such as solar hot water and heat recovery ventilation. The 59 houses and 32 apartments have been designed around a 'Home Zone' – cars and pedestrians will use a shared surface, rather than separate pavements and roads. This is designed to change the way residential streets are used and to improve the quality of life by making them for people, not just traffic. Thomas Cook Place is the first ‘Home Zone’ in Leicestershire to become public highway.

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Thomas Cook Place has been six years in the works and involved contributions from numerous partner organisations. Mike Andrews, Chief Executive of Nottingham Community Housing Association, said: "Working in close cooperation with other agencies has enabled us to build a development that brings benefits not just for the site’s new residents, but for the wider community. New roads around the site have removed heavy traffic from residential streets and improved access to the station."

Margaret Allen, executive director for the HCA in the Midlands, said: "It's fantastic to see the completed development here at Eastern Gateway. The HCA has been involved here for many years, working closely with NCHA and Charnwood Borough Council to transform this part of the town and create an important gateway scheme for Loughborough as well as an attractive and high quality community of new homes for local residents."

The site will eventually become home to more than 90 families.

(CD/GK)