Councillors in St Albans have agreed to transfer an ailing 50-year-old tower block to a housing association for redevelopment.
St Albans City and District Council’s housing and inclusion committee agreed to transfer its Telford Court tower to Hightown Housing Association at its September meeting.
The building would have required a major upgrade to be compliant with new fire and safety regulations so the council decided the better option was to demolish it for modern homes.
The council will transfer the site, subject to final terms being agreed, to Hightown HA in a deal in which the housing association has pledged to maximise the amount of new social housing on the site.
However, the authority will retain the right to nominate all future tenants for the social rent properties from its housing register.
Cllr Simon Johns, the committee’s chair, said: “When we looked at options for the future of the Telford Court site, we decided it would be best redeveloped by a major social housing provider.
“It would have been too big a project for the council to take on itself and we wanted to ensure the site continued to provide social rent homes.
“We invited bids from social housing providers and they were all subjected to a rigorous procurement process.
“I am delighted that process has now concluded and that Hightown HA will soon start work on the redevelopment once all the contractual details have been finalised. They share our vision for the site and we look forward to seeing their detailed plans.
“As a council, we are committed to providing new social housing for the district and this project to redevelop Telford Court with Hightown HA is a clear demonstration of that.”
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