Construction of a new low-rise ‘garden community’ has officially started on the grounds of Ealing’s historic Twyford Abbey, helping to tackle the borough’s affordable housing crisis and create a new public park.

Half of the 296 homes at the development – being built by Latimer, the developer arm of Clarion Housing Group – will be affordable, according to standard industry definitions. This includes 70 homes that will be let to some of the thousands of local families who urgently need a socially rented home. The homes will be let at London Affordable Rent, which is priced to suit the budgets of local people on low to moderate incomes.

The council helps to provide much-needed new homes for the borough in 2 ways. As well as directly building them, it also uses its planning system to ensure that private developments in the borough maximise the delivery of affordable housing. 

296 new homes and a new park

Councillor Shital Manro, Ealing Council’s cabinet member for good growth and new housing, said: “We’re delighted to see work get under way at this iconic site, and even more pleased that 50% of the 296 new homes being built there will be available as affordable tenures, including 70 which will be let at rents that local people on moderate incomes can comfortably afford.

“We will continue working with our partners all over the borough to deliver the new affordable housing our seven towns so desperately need.”

The project will also see the opening of the abbey’s south lawn and planting of 157 trees, deepening the connection between the heritage of the site and nature.

Councillor Deirdre Costigan, deputy leader and cabinet member for climate action, added: “Ealing Council promised to deliver 10 new parks and open spaces by 2026, and the new park at Twyford Abbey – which we wrote into the planning conditions for the site – will help us deliver this. 

“Not only will it provide a fantastic open space for everyone to enjoy, but it will include new trees, as part of the 50,000 we are planting in the borough.  

“Even more green space will be available to our residents through the huge south lawn – equivalent to 16 tennis courts – which will now be opened up to the public for the first time in three decades.” 

Ealing’s affordable housing crisis

In total, the Twyford Abbey site will be 50% affordable. As well as the homes to let, a further 68 homes will be available as shared ownership – a low-deposit, government subsidised scheme to help people get onto the housing ladder.

There has long been a chronic shortage of affordable housing in the borough, but the cost  of living crisis has accelerated a seismic shift in the local housing market. Private rents have more than doubled in some areas since 2018, and the number of privately rented properties available across the borough has gone down by more than 30% in the same period. Combined with other factors, this has caused a big spike in the number of families who have no choice but to approach the council for immediate help with housing.

Tackling this crisis is a key priority for the council, and the properties at Twyford Abbey form part of the council’s plan for thousands of new homes to let by 2026.

Leading London

The council is supporting households struggling with finding a safe, affordable home through homelessness prevention services, advice on benefits, and support to pay their bills. It prevents more families from becoming homeless than any other London council, by intervening before they are evicted from privately rented homes.

Ealing Council also leads the capital in terms of council homebuilding – and is consistently included among the top performing boroughs in London for delivering new, genuinely affordable homes.

Find out more

Read more about the planning permission for this development here.