LOVELL, the affordable housing developer with a base in Birkenhead, has clinched a £3.5m deal with Liverpool’s Cosmopolitan Housing Association to build a housing scheme in Egremont, Wirral.

Work on the Rice Lane development is set to start next month, and involves 34 new homes and the refurbishment of two existing properties.

All of the housing will be for affordable rent.

The new homes will include two-, three- and four-bedroom houses and two-bedroom bungalows.

Each home will also be equipped with state-of-the-art energy “smart meters” to measure gas and electricity of the type which the Government wants all homes to have by 2020.

The smart meters take readings automatically and provide accurate, up-to-the-minute information for residents on energy consumption allowing them to monitor their energy use more effectively.

Homes will also benefit from automatic meter reading water meters so that, again, meter readers will not have to visit the home to take a reading.

The development is set to be finished in 2012.

Geoff Redhead, Cosmopolitan Housing group chief executive, said: “The need for affordable housing, whether for rent or sale, has never been greater and we are pleased to be helping to meet this need at Rice Lane with the support of Wirral council and funding from the Homes & Communities Agency.

“All the tenants for these properties will be nominated through Wirral council, and we are looking forward to welcoming them to their new homes.”

Lovell regional director Nigel Yates added: “We’re pleased to be starting work on this scheme, which will help answer the demand for high-quality new affordable housing in Egremont.”

Cosmopolitan Housing Group was formed in 2003, but its origins date back to 1969 and the Liverpool and District Student Housing Association.

The association now owns and manages approximately 1,900 properties in Liverpool, Wirral, Halton, Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens and West Lancashire.