We celebrate building our 400th council home

We have celebrated the completion of our 400th council home at Randalls Ride, Hemel Hempstead.

New residents helped us mark the milestone by coming to a ribbon-cutting ceremony (Tuesday 26 November 2024) along with councillors, members of our Housing team and representatives from Bugler Developments.

Randalls Ride replaces six outdated bungalows and four flats above garages with 30 one and two-bedroom apartments spread across two blocks. The development includes three two-bed wheelchair-accessible flats, 30 parking spaces, two waste storage buildings, cycle storage and landscaped communal garden areas.

The homes use green energy, including a communal air-source heat pump on the roof of the larger block, which will deliver heating and hot water efficiently to each apartment. This not only helps meet our drive towards zero carbon, but reduces energy bills and minimises the likelihood of fuel poverty. Each flat will get an Energy Performance Certificate rating of B as a minimum.

This project was given Homes England funding and is another step towards improving the supply of affordable housing in Hemel Hempstead.

In 2013, we published our Building for the Future programme and set the target to build 300 new homes by 2020. Given that Dacorum had not built any new council homes for more than 30 years, this was an ambitious target and a real step change for both us and our residents. Following the success of this programme, we set a five-year plan to deliver a further 350 more new homes. With the completion of Randalls Ride, we are now on track to meet our targets.

Cllr Simy Dhyani, our Portfolio Holder for Housing and Property Services, said: "It is fantastic to take handover of this project and provide much-needed affordable homes in the borough. These homes are a proud addition, built with a fabric-first approach featuring thicker walls for energy efficiency and heat pumps in place of traditional boilers, significantly improving our construction standards.

"We are proud to have developed more than 400 new council homes, and we remain committed to continuing to build homes that will create a lasting legacy of housing for future generations in our borough. It was amazing to see so many of our new residents at the opening event and have the opportunity to see how proud they are of their new homes."

Andy Bugler, Bugler Group CEO, said: "On behalf of the Bugler team, we were delighted to celebrate completion of Randalls Ride alongside representatives from our long-standing client, Dacorum Borough Council. We are proud to have delivered much-needed affordable housing for the local community, including this milestone development of 400 council homes. It was good to be joined by residents on the day and we hope they spend many happy years in their new homes."