Square Roots has celebrated a key milestone in the construction of its 100% affordable homes development in Kingston.
The developer was joined by Councillor Liz Green, mayor of the Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames, as it topped out the development named Kingston KT1, as well as Cllr Alison Holt, Cllr Ian Manders and Cllr Olly Wehring, alongside Rasheed Rahman from Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC), which invested £50million in the scheme.
The scheme, comprising two seven-storey and 13-storey buildings with brick facades, is delivering 125 affordable rent and shared ownership homes, all with private outside space, on the former Hawks Road Health Clinic site in Kingston, which became surplus to NHS requirements after health services were moved to other sites in the borough.
There will be 44 apartments to be rented at London Affordable Rent (LAR) levels and 81 apartments available for shared ownership, with on-site amenities for residents including play space and landscaped podium decks. The LAR homes will be set at rents that the Mayor of London views as ‘genuinely affordable’ and will be let to local residents nominated by the council. The shared ownership homes will allow many medium-income households to fund the deposit needed for homeownership. London Square is acting as the contractor/developer, with Square Roots as the affordable provider and PIC as the investor. The development was also made possible through a £4.9million grant from the Mayor of London’s Affordable Housing Programme. Construction of the main buildings is now underway with the development expected to be completed by March 2026.
Mayor Cllr Green said: “I very much enjoyed the opportunity to play a part in celebrating such a significant milestone in this new development’s progress at the topping out ceremony. I’m really looking forward to these new, affordable homes being completed and seeing residents move in next year.”
Barbara Richardson, managing director of Square Roots, said: “We are delighted to mark the progress on the delivery of these affordable homes and welcome our partners, PIC and the Mayor of Kingston and fellow councillors to our second site in Kingston. We look forward to our new residents moving into high-quality, well-designed homes in a location within walking distance of the town centre and with excellent transport links. Our partnership with PIC and funding from the Mayor of London has enabled us to deliver another 100% affordable scheme, making an important contribution to the housing shortage and to the local economy in Kingston.”
Established by London Square 2021, Square Roots operates independently with a separate board and governance in place and became a Registered Provider in 2022. Recently, the London Borough of Southwark became the first London borough to make Square Roots an approved provider of affordable homes.
