Our new build development programme

If we want to give more people the opportunity to live in an affordable property, we simply have to build new homes.

There are many reasons for this, but the main one is supply and demand. There are just not enough affordable homes to go around.

Our new homes can receive four to five hundred expressions of interest per property, so we’re building to a clear need.

Another big reason is that we lose some of our housing stock through the government’s Right to Buy and Right to Acquire schemes.

These schemes allow council and housing association tenants to buy their home in certain circumstances. Since 2011, when Bolton at Home took ownership of the council’s housing stock, we’ve lost almost 1,600 homes to Right to Buy.

If we don’t replace these properties with new ones, the number of affordable homes we have available for people continues to decline.

Yes, it does generate more income and that’s really important.

Bolton at Home is a charitable community benefit society. We don’t exist to make a profit.

Any money we receive through rents, or through the sale of Shared Ownership properties, is reinvested into our business plan, which includes maintaining and improving existing homes and building new ones. This is just another reason why developing new homes is important — it benefits everyone.

People looking for a home are in varying circumstances and so we look to provide a choice.

Shared Ownership is one of the ways we do this. For example, our new build development of 47 homes at Singleton Avenue in Horwich has provided a mix of affordable rented and Shared Ownership properties to offer that choice.

The sale proceeds from Shared Ownership properties become part of our budget to be reinvested in our homes and services, including our existing homes. The people who buy Shared Ownership homes are often moving from an affordable rented property, which frees up those rented properties for other people to move into.

We also offer some homes on a Rent to Buy basis.

Bringing empty homes back into use as quickly as possible is absolutely part of the solution and something that’s a big part of our stock investment plan.

We must also consider that a lot of our housing stock was built many decades ago. It can be hard to bring some properties back up to the required standard in an affordable way, particular if they have structural issues and other defects that are expensive to fix. 

It sometimes makes more sense to sell that asset and reinvest the money protecting and upgrading other existing homes and building new ones. This ensures our housing stock is continually being renewed. 

You can tap here to find out more about what we do with our empty properties.

We began building new homes in 2014. We started small with developments of generally between 10 and 20 homes.

As we’ve built up a trusted network of contractors and supply chain partners, we’ve been able to build slightly larger developments to give us more affordable homes.

We set a target to deliver 1,400 new homes for five years between 2021/22 and 2025/26. These homes are a mix of properties built directly by Bolton at Home and homes we buy from private housebuilders developing their own homes.

We are on track to hit the 1,400 homes milestone this year.

We remain fully committed to delivering new build affordable homes in the future. We’re awaiting details of what the government’s grant funding programme for affordable homes will look like beyond 2026 which will inform our future plans for new homes.

We want to keep building a mix of homes that help us meet people’s needs.

We work closely with local authorities to determine that need.

For example, we’ve included more apartments in our housing mix in areas where we know there’s a shortage of single person homes. We also know there’s a shortage of larger four-bedroom family homes, so we’re looking for ways to incorporate these larger homes within developments too.

The vast majority of the homes we’re building are within Bolton and this will continue to be the case.

We do build some homes in other parts of the region where it meets a clear housing need and where is makes financial sense to do so, for example to generate income that can be reinvested in our homes and services.

Since our merger with Arcon, which completed in spring 2024, we own homes in other areas of Greater Manchester, so looking at opportunities to build elsewhere makes sense.

Many of our new-build developments have a local lettings policy, especially in areas with a major shortage of affordable homes where people can’t easily find a property that enables them to stay close to family, friends and local connections.

The affordable rented homes we build are made available through choice-based lettings systems which enable those registered to bid on properties that match their needs. 

Each local authority area will have a different choice-based lettings system. For example, for homes in Bolton people can bid for properties on the Homes for Bolton system. Tap here for a full list of lettings systems for the areas we serve, and quick links to them.

Sustainability is really important to us, both for new build properties and our existing housing stock. 

Our new build homes come with lots of energy saving technology already installed as part of the design, such as high levels of insulation and airtightness, solar panels, and heat pumps.

On our existing homes we’re looking at how we can retrofit as part of the push towards net zero. This forms part of our wider stock investment plan.

Local authorities have ultimate responsibility for how social housing is allocated. 

This includes council-owned homes and those owned by housing associations and social landlords like Bolton at Home.

Please tap here if you'd like to learn more about how social housing is allocated.

A development of 68 properties with 62 for Social Rent and 6 for Affordable Rent in Little Lever in partnership with Caddick Construction.

Please note that this is an Extra Care scheme for anyone aged over 55 who needs support or care to live independently.

Social Rent Homes:

53 x 1 bedroom flats and 9 x 2 bedroom flats

Affordable Rent Homes:

6 x 2 bedroom bungalows

More information about Lever Gardens Court can be found here www.boltonathome.org.uk/bolton-at-home-news/interested-in-living-in-or-working-at-our-new-extra-care-housing-scheme-5862/

If you'd like more information on Extra Care schemes like this one, tap here: www.boltonathome.org.uk/sheltered-and-independent-living

A development of 40 properties with 32 for Affordable Rent and 8 Right to Buy close to Leverhulme Park in partnership with McCauls.

Affordable Rent Homes:

18 x 1 bedroom flat, 6 x 2 bed flat and 8 x 3 bed house

Rent to Buy Homes:

5 x 2 bed house and 3 x 3 bed house

A development of 53 properties with 44 for Affordable Rent and 9 Shared Ownership

Affordable Rent                

4 x 3 bedroom house, 5 x 4 bedroom house, 16 x 1 bedroom flat, 19 x 2 bedroom flat

Shared Ownership          

4 x 2 bedroom house, 5 x 3 bedroom house

A development of 82 properties on the site of the former Bolton bus station in partnership with First Step Group Ltd.

A development of 44 properties with 30 for Affordable Rent and 14 for Rent to Buy close to Bolton Rugby Club in partnership with Tyson Construction

Affordable Rent                

2 x 2 bedroom house, 8 x 3 bedroom house, 4 x 4 bedroom house, 16 x 1 bedroom flat

Rent to Buy                        

8 x 2 bedroom house, 6 x 3 bedroom house

A development of 6 properties with 4 for Affordable Rent and 2 for Shared Ownership at the top of St Helen’s Road in partnership with Northstone.

A development of 50 properties with 44 for Affordable Rent and 6 for Shared Ownership situated between Bolton and Wigan in partnership with Persimmon Homes.

A development of 42 properties with 31 for Affordable Rent and 11 for Shared Ownership situated between Bolton and Wigan in partnership with Ashberry Homes (Bellway).

A development of 36 properties with 25 for Affordable Rent and 11 for Shared Ownership on the outskirts of Preston in partnership with Morris Homes.

A development of 28 properties with 20 for Affordable Rent and 8 for Shared Ownership just 10 minutes away from Preston in partnership with Morris Homes.