Industrial yard to become temporary housing for homeless

A former commercial site is set to be developed by Cornwall Council into a housing scheme for former rough sleepers.

Planning permission has been granted for the yard at Cowlins Mill in Carn Brea to be converted into 10 one-bedroom modular homes, to be used as ‘move on’ accommodation to support people on their journeys to permanent homes.

The project, led by the Council’s Housing Delivery and Development Team, will convert the former industrial workshops and offices on the site into management, meeting, and recreation space, and create a pedestrian walkway through the site to Pool.

Olly Monk, the Council’s portfolio holder for housing and planning, said: ‘A key part of our plan to tackle Cornwall’s housing issues is to make sure that those most vulnerable and in greatest need have a safe place to stay. This project will take a run-down and unused brownfield site originally built at the turn of the 20th century and bring it to life by converting it into bespoke, high-quality accommodation – at the same time preserving the area’s rich mining and industrial heritage.

‘Officers have worked extremely hard to find a way to provide this type of accommodation on the site and I am extremely grateful and proud of this and what it will mean for those people that will be able to live here in the future. This is the first site of many that we will be using to help those in most need.’

Planting is expected to be carried out at the site to maximise the ecological benefit of the project, and key elements of the site’s history are being carefully preserved, including turning some of the former workshops into walled gardens and restoring an arched stained-glass window to convert it into a clock to be mounted on the new communal building.

Work on the site is expected to begin soon with demolition and site clearance works, and the new modular homes are expected to be delivered to the site in the autumn, ready for occupation in December.

In related news, Nottingham City Council to convert a former care home into temporary homes for families across the region.

Photo supplied by Cornwall Council