Plans show new look for Cour du Parc
Saturday 9th March 2013, 5:00PM GMT.
The proposed new-look entrance to Cour du Parc flats.
An impression of what the south elevation of a refurbished Cour du Parc will look like. The plans submitted to Environment include cladding the building with rain screen to eradicate condensation problems and also to improve its appearance.
WORK to refurbish and modernise Guernsey’s only tower block will begin in September if planners approve it.
The Guernsey Housing Association’s application to Environment involves increasing the number of flats from 42 to 50, with a mix of one- and two-bedrooms, to house single people and couples.
They will be for social rented housing, partial ownership and potentially key workers employed by the States.
‘Structurally this building is sound. However, internally, it is in real need of modernisation,’ said GHA chief executive Steve Williams.
‘This high-rise building is a new challenge for GHA but we have done our homework on tower block refurbishments elsewhere and, with careful planning and specification, intend to produce an attractive place to live.’
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Good decision to keep this block,lets hope
corners and prices are not cut when renovating it.
No matter where in the world you find them,tower blocks and multi storey car parks, have never been the most pleasing addition to the landscape.However,it’s all very well people jumping up and down in protest, over these types of construction,but with carefull, and common sense planning these buildings can be fairly acceptable to the eye.There was ample opportunity(now missed), for 1 or 2 more medium sized tower blocks, and an underground carpark to be built in the charroterie area,well needed requirements to the island,(i can hear the cries of horror now)! With ever increasing stocks of land, on the island slowly drowning under the weight of concrete,and the unchecked volume of vehicles on the island spiraling out of control,it is again a perfect example of the our local governement having no vision on the futur direction of the island.Better to have a few more medium sized tower blocks neatly placed in one area,than the present outbreak of cheaply(yes, cheaply), constructed housing springing up everywhere.Better to have 1 or 2 multi story car parks neatly placed (most of the floors could be underground ,or like many countries have, tunnel underground parking)),than the present ruination of the towns sea front, by un-imaginative car parks,filled with thousands of vehicles…pas de vision sur notre isle!
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I`m glad to see that this building is going to be refurbished but not that it will be used to house, no doubt a a cheap rent, by imported labour whether it be essential workers or not.
We have far too many truly local people that need decent small rented accommodation to go handing it out to immigrant workers.
If I was an essential worker and local I would have to find my own accommodation and the going rental rate so why should immigrant workers be different.
As it is I am a pensioner on a limited budget and have to still find the going rate rental which limits me to a bedsit and still find the money for everyday needs like food and transport.
These apartments should be offered to locals first and foremost and then, IF any are still vacant, put on the market for licence holders from outside.
Just one other point, why is it that only potential STATES WORKERS are offered accommodation and not potential OTHER TRADES workers applying for work outside The States, say private carers, builder`s tradesmen or trade instructors? This is surely favouring the potential States employees at a cost to the tax payers. The tax payer will be paying for the reconstruction of this block of flats and also the subsidies to the rents of the occupants and so should be open to ALL locals and essential workers employed by ANY employer.
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The word in the Mariners is that HVC has the job
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Great news for that ugly building but I cannot see how that mix of people living there will work, social housing, key workers coming and going all hours and partial ownership, sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.
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Valeite
This kind of mix works in lots of other places.
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should be for locals only, there are to many people coming over here earning stupid money at the guernseyman s expence, ,, nurses get cheap rent, why can t they pay the same as everybody else, they earn more than me, and get cheap rent at the nuses home,
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It’s the joy of a market economy. If the States didn’t offer those to nurses, there won’t be any here at all. There is no nurse or doctor training on the island, so people (even local) go to the UK to study and then they get better offers, better money, better conditions. But I guess we could just have no healthcare at all, that would help reduce taxes. Or the money could be used to fix roads and potholes.
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G Boy
The answer is simple we need nurses to staff our health service, we do train some of our own but not enough.
Nurses can sell their skills to any number of countries and we have to offer a package to attract them to Guernsey. Guernsey born nurses are also allowed to live in nurses accommodation.
We will always need key workers and as we can’t find enough local we have to bring them in, I am afraid it is a fact of life.
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Deputy Dave,
My sister was “an essential worker” at the PEH but wasn’t allowed to apply for an apartment in the new block outside the hospital or any other cheap accommodation offered to immigrant essential worker.
The reason given to her was that she was local and therefore didn’t qualify.
She was also told she was not an essential worker because she only worked in the Laundry.
Tell me if I`m wrong Deputy Dave but wouldn’t there be major disruption and uproar if the hospitals didn’t get clean uniforms and bedding daily and doesn’t that make these workers essential?
Very fair system isn`t it?
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a Voter
I am afraid nursing accomodation is kept for nurses, the clue is in the title.
If you open it up to all other workers then you would have no room for nurses.
Also local people are eligable to access all other types of accomodation that people under licence are not.
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This will make excellent accomodation for the many guest workers that come here, give them decent housing and not the horrible shared open market doss houses they occupy at the moment.
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Dave.
I read in the article that there will be ‘rubbish’ shoots. Is there also provision for recycling materials to be stored and collected?
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Rosie
Yes as I understant it there will be provision for recycling, the exact details on how it will be catered for have not yet been finalised but it will be a feature of the building.
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Dave,
Pleased to hear it. Space for recyclates has been a feature sadly lacking in planning requirements for too long….. Even now, I believe it is only a ‘suggestion’ that it should be included in planning applications which is ridiculous.
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Are there any plans to incorporate modern rubbish disposal facilities in the planning regulations which should perhaps apply to all private new builds of flats and redevelopments?
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Dave Jones
I was unaware there was a site in Guernsey like this, key workers, social housing and GHA, dont tell me it works in the UK, because you spend most of the time telling us we are not the UK.
I would not like to live next to key workers who are undoubtedly shift workers and vice versa, who would want to live next to noisy tenants if you are trying to sleep in the day, especially in flats, which we all know can be exceptionally noisy.
I personally would like to see this made available to people who are living in social housing who are occupying a larger house than they actually need so they can be released for families to occupy.
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Valeite
Part of the refurbishment will be looking at soundproofing the apartments.
Also mixed tenancies are not new, the UK not withstanding, there are people looking at this in the GHA who have far more experience in these matters than you and I, so I have every confidence it will be fine.
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Valeite
It is working very well at he old bus garage site, there is a mixture of rental and partial ownership, with five ground floor apartments for those with disabilities, I also suspect in a complex like that of 80 homes and flats there is likely to be a percentage of people who do shift work.
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Dave,
Where does it work then, you have not answered the question.
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Well there might be a percentage work shift work, but then again there might not, I rest my case and agree to differ, not an ideal situation in my view.
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