Four Courts, Hollington, up for demolition.

Plans to demolish Four Courts in Hollington cause concern

Just 12 years after the completion of a £10m refurbishment project, Southern Housing has announced the demolition of the Four Court Towers with the commencement of a new building project to start in 2028. Local councillors have called for an emergency meeting to discuss. Dee Williams reports.

The announcement by Southern Housing seems to have taken everyone by surprise. The following statement was distributed by Helen Kay, Labour Councillor for Wishing Tree:

The plan is to re-home the residents in alternative Southern Housing properties over the next three years, before starting to redevelop the site in 2028. According to the Southern Housing brochure, “The site is big enough to provide more social housing than the number of homes currently provided by the Four Courts. The new development will include a mix of home types to meet local housing needs.”

Timescale for Southern Housing development of the Four Courts site.

HBC Councillors will be aware that moving approximately 400 people into suitable social housing will undoubtedly add to the current housing crisis. They are also concerned that tenants will lose ties with the local community. Southern Housing confirms that many of the residents will not be able to return.

“For residents of Bevin and Roosevelt Court this will mean a move to a permanent new home. For others this may mean moving to a different location, or returning to the redeveloped Four Courts site. We’ll do all we can to take account of your preferences when finding you a new home.” 

To sweeten the pill, all residents have been offered £8,100 in compensation with full moving costs covered. The whole project will cost Southern Housing, one of the largest housing associations in the UK with over 80,000 homes, a considerable sum of money. They give the following reasons for demolition rather than further refurbishment.

Even with significant investment, the existing structures would still fall short of providing fully accessible, and future-proofed homes. For example, essential upgrades such as lifts that stop on all floors and are large enough to enable ambulance crews to exit residents are not feasible within the current buildings. The design and layout of flats doesn’t meet modern mobility standards, and the physical constraints of the buildings restrict the opportunities to modernise these blocks to the standards residents expect. For these reasons, after careful consideration and listening to your concerns, we’ve made the decision to redevelop the Four Courts. This will allow us to create new, high-quality social homes that truly meet the needs of both current and future residents. 

One reason for redevelopment could be the expectation that Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) ratings for rented properties will increase from E to C by 2030. The new homes will be built to higher emission standards, increasing their value in line with demand. Many older properties will no longer be viable as refurbishment costs escalate.

As previously discussed housing is an asset, with global corporations gradually taking a greater share of the market. In June 2024 Southern Housing launched £1B EMTN Funding Programme giving them greater access to foreign markets.

Many social housing tenants receive housing benefits sourced from UK tax receipts. This ensures a reliable funding stream to remunerate the EMTN investors. A currently unknown percentage will be moving out of the UK economy to overseas investors.  When local councils built social housing prior to the 1980’s, the rents were returned to the council creating a circular economy.  Since 1980 local councils have found their assets reduced by the ‘Right to Buy’ legislation, making it financially unviable. As confirmed by the government in November 2024, this policy does not apply to housing associations.

“The government has also confirmed today that it will not be extending Right to Buy to housing associations because of the substantial costs to the taxpayer and the likely reduction in social housing stock.”

Although all the details have not yet been released (and it would appear that the HBC councillors have been kept in the dark), Southern Housing will have calculated the profit and loss for such a major project. On the plus side, the scheme will marginally increase the pool of social housing and offer modern, heat-efficient and accessible accommodation to local people. However, the funding model allows corporations in the UK and abroad to benefit from a secure stream of largely tax-funded rental payments, whilst securing their rising asset of rental properties.

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