DEMOLITION has finally begun at a half-built estate of abandoned flat-pack homes ahead of a major project to raze them to the ground and rebuild the properties.
Guinness Homes, the developer behind the project, is now back on site after the homes were abandoned for the last year and is carrying out “soft-strip demolition” before bulldozers move in.
Kitchens and fittings from the homes, on Fossetts Way, Southend, are being stripped and donated to charity after work began this week.
Full demolition will then commence as Guinness continues to hunt for a new construction partner for the major 131-home project.
The site has been compared to a “ghost-town” over the last two years as the half-built homes stood empty and abandoned.
The plans stalled when Ilke - which had been tasked with creating the flat-pack homes - collapsed into administration.
Green Party member and campaigner, Simon Cross, has slammed Guinness as “embarrassing” in past campaigns and feels the scheme was “short-sighted”.
He said: “I have said that if we were left with the empty homes, Guinness would have to finish up by demolishing them as the homes were never watertight. It was short-sighted by Ilke not having the materials in place and with a lot of housing projects, the costs make them unlikely.
“While there is a waste of resources from the development, it is not just the waste, we don’t have enough construction workers for Ilke’s ambitious plans.
“We should be utilising what we have a lot better, the idea of building for the future with unfeasible projects is wrong.”
The Guinness Partnership also said that a National House-Building council survey found five of the almost completed homes failed to meet necessary regulatory requirements including fire safety.
A spokesperson for The Guinness Partnership said: “Soft strip demolition has commenced which includes the removal of kitchens and other fittings which are being gifted to local charities.
“The external demolition will follow on from this and is expected to take four to five weeks to complete.
“The process will take all the partially completed homes back to floor slab level, from which the new contractor will be able to take forward construction.”
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