Alex Phillips says: “We’re here just to have a look at the property behind us; this is
number 34 Victoria Avenue. It’s just been bought by Aspire Housing Association,
Newcastle, using funds from RENEW North Staffs and Newcastle Borough Council.
We’re going to use the funding to do some testing on the property to see if we can
find a way of bringing the house back up to mortgagability.”

Reporter asks: “Now this house is a Schindler property, that’s typical of houses on
the estate. Why are they such a problem here and what’s the scale of the problem as
well?”

Alex Phillips responds: “They’re built in a non traditional way, so it’s a pre-cast
concrete frame and under the 1984 Housing Act they are designated defective because
the structure is such that there maybe degradation, we don’t know, which is why
we’re doing the works here. The problem is that we’re not sure the condition is, even
if the properties are ok on this estate they’re still designated defective, which means
residents can’t get a mortgage on the property.
All the houses on the estate are Schindler properties, some of which have been
repaired during the 1990s but they were actually rebuilt more or less from scratch.
We’re looking this time at a more cost effective way of doing it that’s less disruptive.

Reporter asks: “I see. What will the project involve then?”

Alex Phillips responds: “Once the consultants been appointed they’ll take away
some of the brick work from the property and do some testing on the actual concrete
structure to see what kind of degradation there is. Then they’ll look at alternative
methods of actually repairing the property and issues towards mortgagability, so
they’ll be working with a mortgage lender to see what criteria they would need for the
property to be able to secure a mortgage.”

Reporter asks: “Now the property, as you can see, is pretty much a state isn’t it,
there’s a lot of work to do. What other things will be done here?”

Alex Phillips responds: “Well this property has actually been empty for about two
and a half years now, it is in a really poor condition and it obviously doesn’t look very
nice when you’re driving passed it so as part of the project we’ll actually be bringing
the property back into use, so that means it will be refurbished so it’s up to a decent
standard and then hopefully somebody will be able to move in.”

Reporter asks: “When will the project start and how long do you think it will take?”

Alex Phillips responds: “The projects due to start in January 2010 and it will take up
to a year to do the testing, do the investigative work and then following that the
refurbishment work will take place, we’re not sure obviously how long that will take
yet.”

Reporter asks: “How much will the whole project cost, including the purchase of the
property?”

Alex Phillips responds: “Around £150,000 and that’s been split between Newcastle
Borough Council and RENEW North Staffordshire.”
Reporter asks: “Have residents been involved in what they think of what we’re doing
here?”

Alex Phillips responds: “Yep! In December 2008 we got together a group of
residents to form a community steering group and they’ve actually led on the
selection of the property. They’ve been a part of the selection process for the
consultant which we are just about to get on board. So they’ve led really, they’ve had
loads and loads of information that they’ve been able to provide about Schindler
houses and the repairs that happened in the 1990s so I don’t think we’d have got to
where we are today if it hadn’t been for the residents group.”

Reporter asks: “And my last question is what are the long term plans for the Galleys
Bank estate?”

Alex Phillips responds: “It is hard to say at the moment because of the cost element
obviously with the economic crisis at the moment it is funding opportunities are
limited but we’re hoping that once we’ve got a package of this knowledge together of
what we could do, what the options are then we could look at it a bit further in the
future.”