POST-WAR prefab homes designed to meet a short-term housing crisis have finally been torn down and are being replaced by modern homes.A new scheme of affordable housing in Ixworth, near Bury St Edmunds, is currently under way - replacing 10 outdated Airey homes, the pre-cast concrete buildings swiftly constructed in the 1940s to house bombed out families.

POST-WAR prefab homes designed to meet a short-term housing crisis have finally been torn down and are being replaced by modern homes.

A new scheme of affordable housing in Ixworth, near Bury St Edmunds, is currently under way - replacing 10 outdated Airey homes, the pre-cast concrete buildings swiftly constructed in the 1940s to house bombed out families.

Baker Construction has been contracted by landlord Havebury Housing Partnership for the £2.5 million development of 18 new homes in New Road.

Two of the 18 homes will be available under a shared ownership scheme, which helps people on low incomes get a foot on the housing ladder.

Tenants from the old Airey homes have been re-housed and a proportion will take residency in one of the new properties, including Natercia Godinho , who works in the health service and who has lived in Ixworth for three years.

She has been site to look at progress on her new three-bed terraced home and said she was looking forward to moving in. “I am excited and grateful, and very much looking forward to returning. My old home was very big and beautiful with huge gardens but had lots of problems,” he said.

“We didn't have double glazing and there were problems with corrosion of the buildings metal frames. But I did like them and although I had only been in the street for three years I felt a great deal of affection for them.”

John Griffiths, St Edmundsbury Borough Council member for Ixworth and leader of the authority, said: “This is a fantastic development, both for Havebury, St Edmundsbury and Ixworth and the families who will live here and enjoy it. This is an example of successful partnering between the community and all concerned.”

The shared ownership scheme is available to housing association tenants or key workers such as nurses, who will be able to buy a share in their new home and then pay an affordable rent for the part they do not own.

The 18 new homes in New Road will be completed by late September and will be a mixed development ranging from two bedroom bungalows to five bedroom houses.

In the longer term, Havebury plans to complete the regeneration of the area with a second phase of six to eight homes on the New Road site. Consultation is under way with local planners and the second phase will be dependent on improving access through a new link road, which is proposed between Crown Lane and the Ixworth bypass.

will.clarke@eadt.co.uk