Brand new apartment ticks all the boxes for Great-Grandad Mick
Yesterday was a particularly memorable day for pensioner Mick Davis, as he collected the keys to his brand-new 2-bed ground floor apartment from Community Gateway Chief Executive Rob Wakefield. The apartment is on the Story Homes Waterside development in Cottam, where Community Gateway are purchasing 59 homes in total.
Mick, a retired joiner and builder from Preston, is already a tenant of Community Gateway living in a one-bed first floor flat in Ingol. He decided to have a look at Waterside for a number of reasons:
“I lived round here many years ago and know it well”, said Mick. “I’ve lived all over Preston since then, so being back here is like coming full circle.”
“I’m blessed with a large family and have 19 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, all living locally. The youngest four like to visit quite often, so it will be great to have a second bedroom, where they can stay over. I’m really chuffed with the place – being in the trade myself, I know that it’s real quality workmanship.”
Looking out of the large lounge windows in his new home, Mick points out the Lancaster Canal.
“I don’t do competitive fishing any more, but I love to fish, so the location is spot on. I remember this area when it was all orchards – it’s great to be right on the doorstep of beautiful countryside, yet on good bus routes and handy for the shops.”
The flats are spacious, light and airy, with plentiful storage space and a large kitchen. They also offer all mod cons in the bathrooms, which incorporate not only a modern bath, toilet and sink as standard, but low and high level shower systems. In addition, the apartments benefit from parking and secure bike stores.
Mick was very pleased with how smoothly the process of choosing and signing up for his new home had gone and had nothing but praise for Allocations Officer Charlene. Charlene had arranged for him to have a five-day overlap period between his two tenancies to give him plenty of time to move his furniture and belongings.
Mick gave Chief Executive Rob a quick tour of his new home, while Charlene finished off the paperwork.
Rob said; “This is a prime example of what we’re trying to do here. We want to ensure that, as the biggest landlord in Preston, we provide a range of high quality housing to meet the varied needs of local people at different times in their lives. We’re about building homes not units here at Community Gateway and this latest apartment block will be a real asset to our housing stock. I hope Mick will be very happy here.”
Have a look inside ...
Hear from Mick himself...