Lancaster appoints social housing specialist to lead Mainway masterplan

Lancaster City Council has appointed social housing specialist Place Capital Group (PCG) to develop a masterplan for its Mainway estate.

Mainway was constructed in the 1960s and refurbished in 1990, but now requires significant investment to address maintenance issues and make it safe and secure for the future.

The estate currently consists of 257 homes and its regeneration plan has been described as the council's largest housing and capital project to date.

Work will include the construction of new, energy efficient homes, the innovative remodelling and refurbishment of existing buildings, extensive enhancement of the public realm, and improved community infrastructure.

PCG's masterplan will be driven by the council’s environmental ambitions after declaring a Climate Emergency in 2019 and ensure that Mainway is ‘future-fit,’ with low and zero carbon homes meeting the highest thermal standards, so residents can enjoy the lowest possible running costs.

Work will be phased over a number of years to reduce disruption to existing tenants, with the first seeing two blocks, Lune House and Derby House (pictured above), undergoing comprehensive refurbishment.

Coun Cary Matthews, cabinet member with responsibility for housing, said: “The regeneration of Mainway is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to provide sustainable new homes and create one of the best, most inclusive places to live in Lancaster.

“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."

David Smith-Milne, chief executive of PCG, said: "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.

"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.”