Cornwall-based HOUSING association Ocean Housing has signed a £67m loan deal with Abbey.

The new facility includes an existing loan of £55m in addition to £12m in new funding.

The funding will be used to fund Ocean Housing’s five-year development programme.

The association is aiming to build 500 affordable homes, mostly in the St Austell area, by 2009.

It is scheduled to build about 60 of the homes by 2006, after which the rate of construction is expected to increase.

The existing £55m loan, the terms of which remained the same, was restructured in order to make £14m available to Ocean Plus, a subsidiary established last year to manage 700 homes for older people.

Kevin Pearce, Ocean Group’s director of resources, said: “We’re in year one of our development programme and we need the money to deliver new homes. We’re more than happy to stay with Abbey because they were very supportive when we suffered due to rent restructuring in 2002.”

Ocean currently owns a total of 3500 homes, including sheltered housing, in St Austell, Newquay, St Blazey, Par and the villages of St Dennis, Penwithick and Bugle.

Ocean’s commercial arm, Ocean Services, currently provides maintenance services for Penwith council and has finalised an agreement to provide similar services to North Cornwall council.

Source

Housing Today