Council-Owned Housing Company Ready To Go

Rainbow Homes is preparing its first project to deliver new affordable homes in Swale.

The new council-owned housing company is planning to deliver more than 170 new properties at three sites in Sittingbourne and has appointed Counties & Capital Consulting Ltd (C&CC) to oversee the project.

The new homes are planned for Cockleshell Walk, East Street and Fountain Street and will be the first built by Rainbow Homes.

C&CC will manage and advise on all stages of works, from concept designs, to securing planning permissions, sourcing all project professionals and overseeing the build process through to the successful letting of the new high-quality homes

Emma Wiggins, director at Rainbow Homes told SFM News “Rainbow Homes is a wholly council-owned venture that has been set up to deliver new, affordable homes in Swale. We will be working with our partners to provide local people with a home of their own, built to a good standard and offering a mix of affordable tenures. Our focus will be on creating sustainable communities which make a real difference to the lives of those who live there. Our plans for these three sites are still being finalised, and we’re getting ready to submit planning applications in the next few months. This is the first project we’re hoping to deliver, and we’re already considering plans for other locations around the borough to give as many local people as possible the chance of moving into an affordable home of their own.”

The managing director of C&CC, Neill Tickle, has previously worked with Swale Council and within the borough for more than 15 years as the development director for local housing association, Optivo. During this time he was responsible for successfully delivering many property developments including the Regis Gate Extra Care scheme and the Wild Ash Croft regeneration project.

Neill told SFM News: “We’re over the moon to have been selected from the many companies who entered into the procurement process. We’re most excited to assist Rainbow Homes in delivering these transformational regeneration projects that will continue to improve Sittingbourne town centre and benefit local people and the community. It’s refreshing to see that despite the wide range of political parties and views represented withing Swale, the one factor that everyone agrees with is that they must do their part to help with the housing crisis in delivering more affordable housing for the local community and the people who need it the most – we are delighted to be able to help them achieve this, every step of the way!”

Mohammed Parekh, the development and investment consultant at C&CC who is taking the lead role in delivering these projects told SFM News: “Due to our exceptional commercial awareness and management of internal stakeholders – we have the right balance in managing client’s requirements whilst also understanding the key issues that are so often faced during the stages of a development. We also possess good knowledge and experience of modern methods of construction which is an important consideration for all development clients these days.”