Construction firm Real has been awarded a £10 million contract to redevelop former sheltered housing scheme Hallwood House in Chatham.

The building owned by mhs homes was earmarked for demolition in 2019, and Real has now announced they are to take forward the scheme to replace it with 46 residential apartments for sheltered accommodation for affordable rent in Medway.

In 2019 each of the 29 residents on site were told they would be entitled to a £6,300 home loss payment plus the reasonable cost of moving, along with help to move into alternative accommodation and the opportunity to move back after development is completed.

Real, a recently established, construction and regeneration business, already has three older living facilities on site in Siddington, Winchester and Barnet, which combined with the Medway site will provide over 330 homes for elderly people.

Paul Nicholls, Chief Executive of Real, said: “This is another important contract win for us to support housing providers to create thriving, sustainable homes and communities. “Legend living” was a phrase I heard and liked recently which effectively means offering suitable accommodation for all of us as we enter our later years.

“At Real we are seeing a lot of activity in this area of the market and in providing quality homes for everyone see this as an important pillar in our growth strategy. We are really pleased that, up against stiff competition, mhs homes group have selected Real to deliver this particular project for them and we intend to deliver an excellent product.”

Gemma Hancock, assistant director of development and sales for MHS Homes, said: “We’re extremely confident in Real’s ability to deliver this important project for us and we look forward to working with them over the coming months. We’re not just proud to provide affordable, quality housing across north Kent, but to provide homes for people with a variety of needs. It’s an important element of our purpose and strategy so we’re delighted to be adding another development to our sheltered living portfolio, and create homes for those in need.”

Real has also recently won a place on the £250m South East Consortium framework to build affordable homes and other projects for housing associations and local authorities over the next three years.

Read more: all the latest news from Medway.