Kevin Stewart, minister for local government, housing and planning, visited Slaemuir in Port Glasgow to hand over the final house of a new £5 million 28-home development to its new resident.

Two years ago, River Clyde Homes completed a consultation exercise to gather residents’ views on the future of the 13 maisonette blocks in Slaemuir. They were given the option of continued maintenance and repair or their homes. The outcome showed a clear indication that the majority of owners and tenants expressed the opinion that these blocks should be demolished and replaced with new homes.

The new 28 homes are just the first phase and once the next two phases are built the overall Slaemuir development will comprise 96 new homes, built in partnership with the Scottish Government and Cruden Building.

This is the latest development in River Clyde Homes’ ambitious plans to build up to 750 new homes over the next five years and the first of ‘RCH+’ standard, where all properties will have a common design standard, across all future new build sites. The standards aim to ensure that all homes:

Kevin Stewart said: “I am delighted to visit the first phase of 28 completed new homes at Slaemuir, supported by over £2m of Scottish Government funding. They provide affordable, wheelchair adaptable and good quality social rented housing in the Port Glasgow area. I was particularly impressed by the extensive involvement of the local community in developing proposals for the regeneration of the area. This development is testament of the powerful impact of partnership working.”

Jillian Moffat, chair of the River Clyde Homes Board, said: “These are magnificent homes. We are committed to building new homes that are accessible and adaptable to suit the changing needs of our customers over time. All the homes built in Slaemuir meet the Gold standard in secure by design and are silver level in terms of sustainability. The homes built in Slaemuir are the most energy efficient homes we have built to date. We will continue to develop our design standards to improve sustainability and energy efficiency as our plans to build up to 750 new homes in the next five years develop.”

Managing director of Cruden Building, Allan Callaghan, said: “We are delighted to have completed the first stage of the Slaemuir development in Port Glasgow - building 28 high quality and energy efficient new homes. We are now in the process of building on the cleared site to providing a further 68 new homes as we replace all of the low-rise blocks and breathe new life into this area.”

He added: “Our collaborative approach, working with River Clyde Homes on a number of developments, has ensured that we meet the needs of the community, in terms of quality housing and the legacy that we leave on the Inverclyde area.”

New resident Anne Deighan, who was involved in the steering group from the beginning, said of her new home: “It’s great! I lived in one of the low-rise blocks and am looking forward to not having to climb four flights of stairs. My son Daniel is looking forward to taking charge of the garden in the summer. The place is really warm compared to where we were and we’re excited about spending our first Christmas in our new home.”

Stuart McMillan MSP said: “I’m delighted that the Housing Minister came to see for himself the excellent developments being built in Inverclyde by River Clyde Homes.

“Not only is the local housing association helping the Scottish Government reach its target of building 50,000 new affordable homes over this Parliamentary term, but is also aiding regeneration projects and improving living conditions in my constituency.”