DEMOLITION work is underway at 10 homes in Coalpit Heath as part of Merlin Housing Society’s project to build new, modern houses in the region.

The old-fashioned homes on Newlands Avenue and Oldlands Avenue are being knocked down to make way for 22 brand new houses for tenants.

The flagship scheme is the first in a long line of planned projects by the society, South Gloucestershire’s largest social housing landlord, which is spending millions of pounds replacing damp-ridden properties with clean, modern homes.

In Coalpit Heath, all residents were rehomed last year and last week, some were invited to visit the site for a final look around their old homes before they were torn down by contractors Wring Group.

Project Manager Sally Gilbert said: “It’s tremendously exciting that after all of the planning and consultations with held with residents that we’re now ready to start work. The demolition of these properties is the first work on site for this landmark project.

“We submitted our planning application to build the new properties last month and now we’re waiting to hear whether the council will give us the go-ahead. As soon as it does, then we can begin building our project’s first new homes.”

A planning application for the redevelopment of a total of 34 properties in the village was submitted last month following three consultation sessions with villagers.

All of the properties were built in the 1940s and 50s and are now suffering from a number of issues including damp and draughts and are expensive to heat.

Merlin is proposing to replace them with 65 new homes Over the next eight years Merlin Housing Society will be redeveloping around 450 non-traditional properties to make way for around 850 modern, energy-efficient homes.