McCauls starts on affordable Bolton homes

With an estimated completion date of summer 2024, the £6.5m project would see the building of 40 homes at the former St Osmund’s RC Primary School site in Breightmet.

Astley-based developer and contractor McCauls is delivering the development for housing association Bolton at Home, which will lease out most of the homes at an affordable rent and designate eight houses as rent-to-buy.

Diggers are already working on the old school site, which sits on Blenheim Road. Around 50 people are working on the site, most of whom live in Greater Manchester.

When complete, there will be 11 three-bed houses and five two-bed ones on the site. Under designs by architecture firm Bernard Taylor Partnership, there will also be a three-storey apartment block, comprising 18 one-bed apartments and six two-bed flats.

From left: Bernadette McCaul, Ryan Kelly, Tony McCaul, and Joe McCaul of McCauls, and Noel Sharpe and Dominic Conway from Bolton at Home. Credit: via Ashurst Communications

This is the third time McCauls and Bolton at Home have partnered up, having previously worked together on the housing provider’s St Mary’s scheme in Horwich and its Barton Road project in Breightmet.

Joe McCaul, director, McCauls said: “I am pleased to be continuing our relationship with Bolton at Home with the scheme at Breightmet and it’s great to be on site bringing much-needed new homes for the community.

“We make every effort to use local labour and the majority of contractors are based in Greater Manchester keeping income in the local economy,” he said.

The project is part of Bolton at Home’s goal to provide more housing in the area.

Dominic Conway, group director of development and growth for Bolton at Home, said: “Building new homes helps to reduce the pressure on our housing system, creating more housing choice and ultimately reducing the risk of overcrowded homes or people experiencing homelessness.

“We also hope these homes will support the local community, reusing a derelict piece of land for good.”

Elsewhere in the borough, Bolton at Home is building 168 homes in Little Lever and Horwich. The housing provider has also teamed up with developer Step Places for a 208-home neighbourhood around Moor Lane.