York will have to pay another £3 million for new homes after construction delays

City of York Council will fork out another £3 million after project delays on one of its major housing sites.

Building work on 140 homes on the Lowfield Green site was supposed to be finished by the end of this year, but the council has agreed to extend its contract with Wates Construction until early March 2023.

Work has “generally progressed well”, according to a council report, with 88 homes now complete, but there have been delays in work to divert a mains sewer.

“The diversion works were being carried out by Yorkshire Water and were subject to severe delays related to material and labour shortages caused by the Covid 19 pandemic along with poor ground conditions leading to significant changes to road construction,” the report stated.

“The contract delay has also occurred at a time of unprecedented inflationary rises which has severely impacted construction material prices.”

The costs to the council will rise by £3.32 million, but the council predicts this will be offset by rising house prices.

The council reported in summer of last year that overall costs had risen from £26.6 million to £28.7 million.

Affordable homes

Construction work started at Lowfield Green in December 2019.

Overall, 165 new homes are being built – 56 of them affordable, 19 in a communal scheme, six self-build and the remaining 84 sold at market price.

Little progress has been reported on plans for an extra care facility on the site to meet the needs of older residents.

Progress on the communal living scheme also seems to have stalled.

The council said over summer that the purchase of the land by YorSpace was almost complete, with work due to start at the end of this year.