Unused garden space transformed into family home

A brand new 2-bedroom family home in Hove has been built as a latest addition to our housing provision through the Hidden Homes project.

The Hidden Homes is an innovative project transforming neglected or redundant spaces in council housing stock into good quality, comfortable and sustainable new council homes.   

The project is giving a new lease of life to small or ‘hidden’ pieces of land and spaces on our housing estates and in blocks of flats, to provide council homes for people on the city’s housing register.

Comfortable and sustainable new home

The new home on Martin Road, Hove is built on land previously part of the garden of a neighbouring council house.

When the vacant home was due to be refurbished, the opportunity was taken to divide the original large garden to provide an additional home.

The new house is designed to be energy efficient, with an air source heat pump heating system and solar panels to help reduce energy bills.

A bee brick and three swift bricks have also been installed to help enhance the local biodiversity.

The house will be let at social rent to ensure it is truly affordable for its residents.

Other Hidden Homes developments

The Hidden Homes project has now delivered 30 new homes since it began in 2019. These include a 3-bedroom family house in Bevendean that has also been built on a converted garden plot.

Eight additional homes have already been created on the Bristol Estate by transforming former drying areas and bin rooms in blocks of flats.

A former office in Manor Hill, Whitehawk was converted into 2 flats and a new house built alongside.

Under our wider redevelopment programme, we’ve also converted 2 buildings in Oxford Street and Tilbury Place, both in central Brighton, to provide 25 new council-owned temporary accommodation flats.

Work is underway to transform disused office building opposite the Royal Pavilion into 11 one-bedroom flats to be used as temporary accommodation for local residents.

Any conversions of underused spaces in blocks are done following consultation with residents.

Innovative solutions

Councillor Gill Williams, chair of the Housing & New Homes committee, said: “The demand for more affordable housing in a city with such limited space and housing capacity requires truly innovative solutions.

“The Hidden Homes project ensures that we make the best use of pockets of land and redundant spaces on our estates, which would otherwise serve no purpose and remain ‘hidden’, by transforming them into good quality, comfortable and sustainable new homes.

“While the project mainly focuses on small sites, all the developments add up and I’m very happy to say that thanks to this project we’ve already provided 30 fantastic new homes for families and individuals in the city.”

Increasing the supply of council homes

We’re also building more council homes on council-owned land through our New Homes for Neighbourhoods building programme.

This spring, the work has started on 200 new council homes and a multi-use community hub on a number of underused sites in Moulsecoomb.

To learn more about the scheme visit the dedicated Moulsecoomb housing and community hub webpage.