£0.7m Edwardian buildings renovation creates a dozen new Newtownabbey homes

Hazel Bell, chair of Choice Housing Ireland, Roberta Cush, tenant at Whitehouse Court and Lorna Brown, Choice Asset Project Liaison officer, enjoying a cuppa at the renovated Edwardian style housing development.

A dozen new secure independent living units have been unveiled after an £0.7million built heritage project in Newtownabbey.

Choice Housing representatives joined residents to celebrate the renovation of the Edwardian style housing development.

Whitehouse Court contained three buildings that collectively provided six shared flats, one self-contained flat and a laundry facility.

The two original Edwardian buildings were constructed in the early 1900s and were extensively refurbished during the 1980s.

The investment in the general needs scheme has led to a complete reconfiguration of the buildings, providing 12 apartments with self-contained accommodation.

Phase one of the development in 2015 comprised 24 apartments and with phase 2 now complete Choice has provided 36 apartments for those in need.

The second phase focused on the remodelling of existing shared accommodation into self-contained housing. The original building was constructed with distinctive red brick, which Choice were keen to preserve.

Michael McDonnell, group chief Executive of Choice, said: “We are pleased to see the unveiling of this impressive refurbishment project which has involved a considerable amount of hard work and dedication, not just from the team at Choice but from all our external partners and our residents. It was very important to ensure that although we modernised the development that the charm of the old building remained.