Local industry behind town's HMO rise - developer

There has been a big increase in the number of houses split into bedsits, flats and shared homes in Barrow-in-Furness

An increase in a town's shared housing is due to demand from contractors working in local industry, a property developer has said.

The number of HMOs (houses in multiple occupation) in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, has gone from one eight years ago to 80 today.

The number of people moving to the area to work at the BAE shipyard and other companies was one of the reasons behind an increase, Larimar Property Management said.

Residents said they were largely unaffected by the rise in HMOs, but some had experienced difficulty parking.

Westmorland and Furness Council figures show there are currently 80 HMOs registered in Barrow.

Earlier this year, BAE Systems announced it was adding 5,000 workers to its workforce of 12,000 Barrow workers, mainly due to winning a contract to build a new generation of nuclear-powered submarines.

'Inundated'

Barrow-based Larimar Property Management have more than 70 houses which are HMOs, and charge £130 to £140 per week, per room, including bills, it said.

Beverly Louw from the company said: "We're always inundated with requests for accommodation and our main market is the contractors coming into the area."

She added that a majority were connected to BAE, but there were also a "large contingent from the gas terminal, wind farms, as well as Kimberly-Clark".

Beverly Louw from a Barrow-based property management company said she did not expect demand to slow down "any time soon"

HMOs are traditionally big Victorian houses that have been split into bedsits, flats and rooms in shared homes.

Hartington Street is home to 10% of Barrow's registered HMOs.

10% of Barrow's HMOs are located on Hartington Street

One man, living in a HMO on the street, has worked on the BAE shipyard for nearly a year.

He shares a kitchen with the five other people in the house.

The man, who did not want to be named, said: "It's lovely, there's good conversation and you can get along with people."

But another resident said they sometimes struggled with parking.

Danny Kershaw, who works at a roofing company in the area, said his firm had worked on a lot of HMOs.

"They're coming up everywhere," he said.

"Some of them [residents] are alright, but some of them are against [HMOs] because they're losing their family homes as well."