Work has started on the first new council houses to be built in Dundee for more than 20 years.

Scottish Government Housing and Communities Minister Alex Neil and city council housing convener Councillor Jimmy Black laid the first blocks on the first new house to signal the official start of work on the site at Mains Loan South. They are being built for the council by Dundee firm Brown Construction.

The development will have 10 new houses - seven family homes and three for wheelchair users. The wheelchair homes have been specially designed to meet the needs of the tenants who will occupy them and this has been helped by the £800,000 of financial assistance that the city council received from the Scottish Government to kick-start council house-building.

Councillor Black said: "It is a significant event, marking the start of Dundee's first new council house builds for at least two decades and the Scottish Government funding will help the city achieve its aim of providing more than 70 new council homes over the next few years.

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"The new homes that are planned will help address a shortage in Dundee of family homes and houses that are designed to make life easier for people with disabilities.

"All the houses have been designed to provide high standards of energy efficiency through increased insulation levels which exceed current building regulation requirements. This should mean lower heating costs for tenants, better noise insulation and help achieve carbon-saving targets."

Housing and Communities Minister Alex Neil said: “Dundee City Council enthusiastically embraced the opportunity to apply for funding to help reverse decades of decline in council house building in the city.

“Dundee, like many other local authorities across Scotland, are working with us to deliver more affordable homes and in doing so, act as an incentive to build a new generation of council houses in Scotland.

“Increasing council house building will also help keep the economy moving by safeguarding jobs and supporting the construction industry.”

The council is also to build new houses at Ettrick Crescent and Liff Road and, like the Mains Loan South development, will all be built to the latest modern standards and have enhanced energy efficiency to ensure that tenants benefit from low ongoing running costs.

(GK)