WORK is underway on a housing scheme to build new bungalows for the over sixties.

The Darlington housing estate will include 16 affordable homes, which will all be let to people over the age of 60.

Railway Housing Association, which marked its centenary last year, has started work on the housing scheme in Barton Street.

The two-bedroom bungalows, which will be available to rent, are being built on the association’s behalf by T Manners & Sons Ltd, a family-run construction company based in Bishop Auckland which was formed in 1860.

Site manager John Middleton, and construction manager Wayne Harris showed Andrea Abbott, Railway Housing Association’s director of customer services, around the building site to see the properties as their start to take shape.

Work on the bungalow development, which will be accessed via The Sidings, off Haughton Road, which is another of Railway Housing Association’s schemes, is expected to be completed later this year.

All the homes will then be let to people aged 60 and over.

Andrea Abbott, Railway Housing Association’s director of customer services, said: “We’re delighted to be working with T Manners & Sons Ltd on our newest development in Darlington.

“Over the last 18 months, we have worked hard to provide a range of affordable homes for rent for a real cross section of the community, helping to meet this need in Darlington.

“The Sidings, our 73-home scheme which adjoins the new Barton Street development, provided homes for young people, families and older people, and this, along with our sympathetic restoration of a listed engine shed from 1844, was one of the areas singled out by judges when it won best housing development of the year in the Chartered Institute of Housing Northern Housing Awards.

“The 16 homes we are now building will complement The Sidings and deliver high-quality older person’s accommodation in the centre of Darlington.”

Wayne Harris, construction director at T Manners, said: “This is our first development working for Railway Housing Association and we are proud to be working in partnership with them to deliver this scheme in Darlington.

“Like ourselves, they are an organisation with a long, proud history and a proven track record of delivering high quality housing developments.”

The development is costing £2.24 million, which includes £651,000 grant funding from Homes England, the national housing and regeneration agency.

The scheme, which was given planning permission by Darlington Borough Council last February, is expected to be completed in June or July this year.