Gloucester's The Forum has been awarded a significant government grant which will allow it to prepare land and kick-start work on 32 new apartments at the development.
Gloucester City Council received £477,903 from the Brownfield Land Release Fund to demolish a former Thai restaurant on Market Parade and conduct extensive decontamination and archaeological surveys of the ground, so building work on the new apartments can begin.
The build is part of an urban housing scheme for Gloucester that includes 25 affordable apartments and forms part of the £200 million Kings Quarter Regeneration project from Gloucester City Council, the University of Gloucestershire and Reef Group — with the new homes due to be built next to the newly-built Whitefriars apartments.
The funding, which has gone directly to the council, comes from the second phase of the government's £180 million Brownfield Land Release Fund — and is Gloucester's second cash injection from the fund, after being awarded £2.2 million to develop nine acres of land into a new urban village of 300 new homes at St Oswalds.
Leader of Gloucester City Council, councillor Richard Cook, said: 'I am delighted that this Government funding will help us to create new homes in our city and bring a disused site back to life. It is another step on the massive regeneration project that is well underway in the city centre as we transform Gloucester.'
