Place Capital to lead on Mainway housing regen

The social housing developer will craft a detailed masterplan for the 257-home council estate, transforming it into a community with energy-efficient homes in Lancaster.

To meet that goal, Place Capital Group will aim to remodel and refurbish existing homes, while also enhancing the public realm. The first two blocks to be revamped will be Lune House and Derby House.

Place Capital will work alongside architect Grounded on the scheme, with AG Building + Consultancy acting as the employer’s agent for Lancaster City Council.

The refurbishment is much-needed, with a February council report noting that most of the houses on the estate would not be habitable in three to five years’ time because of maintenance problems.

Cllr Cary Matthews, who is the cabinet member for housing at Lancaster City Council, described the Mainway regeneration effort as a “once in a generation opportunity to provide sustainable new homes and create one of the best, most inclusive places to live in Lancaster.”

Matthews continued: “We want to breathe new life into the estate, with proposals which are vibrant, that create areas of new public open space, and buildings that meet the challenge of the climate emergency.”

Place Capital chief executive David Smith-Milne noted his team’s ambitions for the scheme.

“Like many housing estates of its age, Mainway has a set of complex design, structural, energy, and socio-economic challenges, but at its core is a community that has been bonded together over generations,” Smith-Milne said.

“Working alongside that community Place Capital Group will create an exemplar of sustainable regeneration, where zero carbon homes sit alongside carefully curated place making to create a convivial, aspirational yet affordable neighbourhood.”

Chloe Phelps, chief executive of Grounded, said she would work closely with both the council and the current residents of Mainway to create homes they could be proud of.

“Together we can make decisions to create a place that will foster conditions for happy, healthy and economically sustainable lives that tread lightly on our planet,” she said.

Mainway estate is located between Mainway and the River Lune in Lancaster.