Angela Constance MSP met with residents and staff of a Hanover Scotland sheltered housing development in Livingston as part of a tour to view upgrades to homes at the development.

Residents, including Mrs Emmie Brown and Mrs Elizabeth King, welcomed Ms Constance into their homes to show her the upgrades and share their experiences of the improvements. This included new highly efficient gas central heating combination boilers that were installed in October 2017, replacing electric storage heating systems.

During her visit, Ms Constance heard that the new heating systems are easier for residents to use when controlling the level of heat in their homes and have saved them money despite “the long, cold winter this year”.

Following the installation of the gas central heating systems, new modern kitchens were also fitted in all homes with residents having an individual choice of styles and colours for their cupboards and worktops.

Hanover Court in Livingston Village is made up of 20 bungalows around a grassed garden area which staff and residents say creates “a sense of community”. During Ms Constance’s visit, development manager Janet Meier shared details of the variety of the social activities organised at the development including day trips to destinations such as Millport and monthly coffee mornings which residents take turns to host in their homes.

Angela Constance MSP said: “I was very impressed by the accommodation on offer and the difference the new gas central heating system in particular has made to residents’ lives. Everyone needs and deserves a warm home that is affordable to heat. It was also great to see the strong sense of community among the residents and staff at Hanover Court. Loneliness and isolation is now recognised as a public health issue which has wide ranging consequences for those affected and earlier this year the Scottish Government announced a new draft strategy to tackle it. Housing has a key role to play and the experiences at Hanover Court are testament to this.”

Mark Farey, director of asset management at Hanover Scotland, said: “I would like to thank Ms Constance for taking the time to visit our development today and to meet with residents. Hanover Court is a lovely development for our residents to live and the upgrades to the houses have enhanced their quality of life even further. The new gas central heating system is not only more controllable for residents to use when heating their homes, it is also more cost-effective and has noticeably cut their energy costs.”