“We can’t believe how lucky we are with our new council home” CIP celebrates 150th tenant moving into their new council homes
Callum Curuk (24) and Kai Hollingsworth (22)
Five years on from the equal partnership being established to create high quality sustainable new homes for local residents, we are celebrating its 150th tenant moving into the brand-new council homes at Ironworks, Mill Road, Cambridge.
Callum Curuk (24) and Kai Hollingsworth (22) had been living in a one-bedroom council flat in Trumpington Meadows for four and a half year. Due to ongoing health issues, the apartment became unsuitable, so Callum and Kai started to look for alternative accommodation.
I had been living in my apartment for over four years, and Kai moved in a year ago. We liked the development, but it started to become harder for us to live there as it was located on the top floor and there was no lift, making it harder for me to access. We began looking on Home-Link* two years ago and applied for lots of different flats every Friday when they were listed, but we never met the threshold. Then one week we were looking as normal and saw a one-bedroom council apartment listed at Ironworks. We hadn’t seen this development previously listed so applied straight away.Callum Curuk
Callum and Kai were successful and were offered a first floor one bedroom council apartment in Eagle building at Ironworks, Mill Road, Cambridge.
We couldn’t believe it when we were offered the apartment and also the fact that it was brand new. Previously we had been putting offers in for much older properties in other areas of Cambridge. As we weren’t familiar with the development we decided to visit and were so impressed with how modern it was and really liked the community feel, with the new playground, landscaping and open space and the public art being included throughout.Callum Curuk
Callum and Kai were offered their apartment on 30th January and moved in on 1st March
We are so impressed with quality of our new apartment. We love our brand-new kitchen which is really contemporary, and it feels so cosy and warm. In our previous apartment it was always quite cold, but we haven’t had to put the heating on at all since we moved in and love the fact that although we are close to Mill Road and the railway line, we are able to have the windows open and watch TV and the noise is minimal. In our old apartment if we had the windows open, we would get noise and air pollution from the M11. The location is also superb. Everything is on our doorstep and it’s a really nice area with lots of different shops and the city centre just a five-to-ten-minute walk. I work as a Physician Assistant at Addenbrookes Hospital, as well as volunteering for St John’s Ambulance and can easily get there by bike or Voy scooter. Kai works in admin in Buntingford, so he uses our car, which we park in the underground car park of the development. We love this as it’s so safe and secure and gives us peace of mind. There is already a really nice community forming at Ironworks and we have said hello to a lot of our neighbours who are really friendly so we can already tell its going to be a great place to live. We feel really fortunate to be living here and are so settled already.Callum Curuk
Ironworks in Mill Road, Cambridge is our flagship development and is creating 236 new studios, one- and two-bedroom apartments, and two-, three- and four-bedroom homes on the former Mill Road depot site, with half for private sale and half as council rented homes
As a partnership we are committed to delivering long-lasting changes for local communities, from boosting council housing supply, promoting sustainability through to creating employment opportunities and using local labour on sites. It’s really wonderful to reach this milestone of our 150th tenant moving into their brand new council home in Cambridge and look forward to delivering many more new homes for local residents.Cllr Gerri Bird, Executive Councillor for Housing at Cambridge City Council and CIP board member
As part of the development, a brand new highly sustainable community centre is being built, as well as a new on-site neighbourhood park, Eagle Park, which features a large play area, rainwater gardens and green open spaces. An extensive public art programme is also a key feature of the development.
This is a really exciting time for the partnership as we continue to see residents move into the brand-new council homes and private sale homes across the city. At Mill Road, which is one of our flagship developments, we are proud of what we are achieving as a team, of creating a tenure blind community that is built to a very high standard and is delivering sustainable homes which are helping to reduce the impact of fuel poverty.Tom Hill, Regional Director for Hill
Sustainability is an integral part of the design of Ironworks, with homes featuring increased cavity wall thickness, mechanical ventilation heat recovery (MVHR) and photovoltaic solar panels, while the wider scheme includes rainwater gardens, swales, new habitat creation and green roofs.
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Callum Curuk (24) and Kai Hollingsworth (22)