We're delighted to announce we have received planning approval to build 294 affordable homes as part of our Chester Gate development in Pennywell.
The new development, which was approved by Sunderland City Council, will be our largest affordable development to date. It will deliver 294 two, three and four-bedroom homes, two-bedroom bungalows and two-bedroom apartments on the brownfield land to the north and west of the current Chester Gate Phase 1 development.
The development will be fully affordable and low carbon. The affordable homes will be made available for rent and shared ownership, to help Sunderland’s residents get a foot on the property ladder.
Joanne Gordon, Homes and Development Director at Gentoo Group, said:
“We are delighted our application has been approved. This development marks a significant milestone in Gentoo’s Affordable Development Programme, creating an affordable home for more than 1,500 residents in the city.
“We are committed to increasing the supply and accessibility of affordable housing by delivering high quality affordable homes in a range of tenures to help tackle the shortage of affordable housing and help meet Sunderland City Council’s new build homes target.
“I am confident this development will transform the local area both socially and economically. We will work closely with our partners to support the local area throughout the development to ensure we are creating a space with both new and existing residents in mind.”
The new development will include a large area of open space within the centre of the site. Footpaths have also been incorporated into the layout to provide pedestrian access through the site connecting to existing footpath links to residential areas and amenities in the local area.
The house types will have energy efficient features such as air source heat pumps, solar PV panels, EV charging points and enhanced insulation. The house types in our Affordable Homes Programme will be built to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accident’s (RoSPA) Safer by Design framework Gold Standard. The framework aims to reduce serious accidental injury in new build homes by making design changes to avoid preventable injuries such as falls, burns or carbon monoxide poisoning.
The development will have wider social and economic benefits, such as:
- Providing an affordable home for more than 1,500 people
- Creating 198 jobs during construction
- Generating approximately £66.8 million economic output during construction
- Creating an additional council tax income of £588,997
Through our Affordable Homes Programme, we aim to deliver more than 700 additional homes to the city by 2029. This will help tackle the shortage of affordable housing and help meet Sunderland City Council’s target of 13,410 new build homes in Sunderland by 2033.
Construction work is expected to begin Summer 2025.
