Kingdom Housing Association has started refurbishment work on its vacant office building at Natal Place in Cowdenbeath.

The conversion will create two new energy-efficient homes for social rent in a town centre location giving the property a new lease of life and augmenting local town centre regeneration objectives.

The completed units will contribute to the Rapid Rehousing Plans in Fife and provide much-needed housing for homeless families through a project which fits with Local Housing Strategy priorities.

Originally built in 1906, the large two-story sandstone building once served as the Manse for the now demolished West Parish Church in Cowdenbeath. Kingdom bought the property in 1989 and it was home to many teams for 30 years before being vacated in January 2019.

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Bill Banks, Kingdom Group Chief Executive said: "This property at Natal Place in Cowdenbeath played a significant part in the development of our housing association . It was Kingdom’s first permanent office building after spending around 5 years working out of a portacabin. The building was our main office for many years until the headquarters in Glenrothes were opened, however Natal Place remained as a branch office for a variety of staff until 2018 /19. After sitting vacant for 20 months I’m glad that we’re able to give the property a new lease of life and to be able to provide new high-quality affordable housing for social rent that will meet future housing needs for many years to come."

The project has been designed to comply with Building Regulations, Secured By Design (bronze) standards and Kingdom's own design guide.

The total project cost is around £494,000 and funding of £157,000 has been provided by the Scottish Government. The conversion works were designed by Sinclair Watt Architects and the works are being undertaken for Kingdom by Campion Homes.