Following months of extensive consultation with local residents, interest groups and the wider community, Haboakus has submitted its planning application to develop 108 new homes and state-of-the-art community facilities in Oxford.

Haboakus is working in partnership with Oxford City Council on the proposals for sites at Barns Road, Cowley, and Dora Carr Close and Westlands Drive in Northway. Most of the new homes will be affordable homes for rent or for shared ownership, with a smaller proportion for sale on the open market.

Haboakus has developed the plans with award-winning architects Allford Hall Monaghan Morris.

The proposed building at Barns Road will provide 40 apartments, with a residents' roof garden and a community garden at ground floor level. The project will also see the relocation of a furniture recycling store operated by the charity Emmaus from its current base at Westlands Drive, Northway to new premises with a highly visible shop front on Barns Road. Community rooms for the area are also incorporated on the ground floor.

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The Westlands Drive project sits on the corner of Westlands Drive and Sutton Road, next to the Northway Evangelical Church and Plowman Tower. The proposed building is a three-storey mansion block containing 21 one- and two-bedroom flats. The block is, in fact, two blocks split on either side of a central 'winter garden' which allows more daylight and cross ventilation to all homes and creates opportunities for residents to meet and chat.

The proposed development at Dora Carr Close will provide 47 new homes including 15 three-bedroom houses, 4 four-bedroom houses and a four-storey mansion block containing 28 one- and two-bedroom flats. As at Westlands Drive, the mansion block has an enclosed 'winter garden' running down its centre. The proposal also provides new state-of-the-art community facilities including a multi-use hall with improved sports changing rooms, social and café areas, local business units, education and learning space and outdoor areas for growing food. This new venue will have the capacity to host social occasions such as weddings, conferences, and sports events.

All the new homes will have many energy and water saving features as Haboakus intends to construct all the new homes to meet Level 4 of the Code for Sustainable Homes, which is a higher standard than conventionally-built houses. And the community facilities will also be built to exacting environmental standards.

(CD/IT)