We’ve reclaimed the streets!

UAE (SANEPR.com) May 2, 2008 -- A tired rat-run has been transformed into a haven for playing children and lush greenery in Werneth. Norfolk Street is the first of two Home Zones to be created by Manchester Methodist Housing Association, part of Great Places Housing Group.

The attractively decorated street – the site of new housing for rent, the Government’s Homebuy shared ownership scheme and outright sale – features redesigned parking, newly-planted trees and street furniture designed to slow traffic to a crawl and ‘reclaim’ the road for pedestrians, cyclists and families.

Work on Norfolk Street is newly completed and nearby Devon Street will follow in the New Year. Both Home Zones – supported by the Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder - will have a different ‘feel’ as residents of each street had different views about what they wanted to see.
Norfolk Street is clean and clear, and paved in simple red and brown colours, and Devon Street will feature a mix of colours of paving and bollards. Both will have new gateways into the streets and other attractive features.

Ahmed Nawaz, 24, who has lived on Norfolk Street for five years said: “Our road has changed so much – and for the better. It’s much quieter; the boy racers don’t tear up and down any more. It looks really smart.”
Ian Finlay Architects designed the Home Zones following the firm’s successful completion of similar schemes for Great Places in Northmoor, Longsight, Manchester, which provided the inspiration for Werneth.

Homes in Devon Street and Norfolk Street, built by MMHA, are the first new houses to be completed under the Housing Market Renewal programme in Werneth.
Neighbourhood Programme Manager, Michael Farnworth said, “Creating a safer, more attractive environment on the street complements perfectly the excellent eco-friendly new homes that are being built at Devon Street and Norfolk Street. New homes are the best evidence of how Werneth is being changed for the better.”

The new properties are designed by award-winning architects TADW, and are now standing proud among the traditional red brick terraces as a beacon of regeneration, helping to give the neighbourhood a bright, new look.