Construction of the first affordable rented homes to be built at Leith Docks has commenced following the award of a major building contract by Port of Leith Housing Association.

In total, 102 new flats will be created on a site at Western Harbour, near the new Asda supermarket, in a development costing £14.6m. Working together with Forth Ports, the Association has also acquired a second nearby site, where it plans to build a further 118 new homes next year.

Port of Leith H.A., one of the Edinburgh City Council's development partners, is also building new flats for rent at Buchanan Street, Elliot Street and Henderson Street.

Jack Hunter, POLHA Chair, said that the demand for rented homes has soared as the credit crunch affected the private housing market, adding: "We will take advantage of the drop in land prices to expand our house building programme and accelerate the supply of homes to rent.

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"This will be a landmark development bringing together the old and new communities of Leith. The scheme will provide highly efficient homes with low energy costs. The scheme includes a ground source heat pump and state-of-the-art levels of insulation. It is fully compliant with the council's new sustainable homes policy."

The new scheme, at Plot R2 on Western Harbour, is the largest ever undertaken by the Association which has grown to become the leading housing provider in Leith. £11.3m of the total cost will be met from Scottish Government grants, managed by the council, with the remainder financed from the financial markets.

Councillor Paul Edie, Housing Convener, said: "This is exactly the kind of good quality, affordable housing that this city needs so acutely right now. The development at Leith Docks is a great example of the highly successful citywide partnership between the Council and housing associations, which delivers 600 badly-needed new affordable homes for the city each year."

(GK/JM)