Northern Ireland Housing Executive builds first new houses for 25 years

The Housing Executive last built new homes in Northern Ireland in the 1990s

The Housing Executive, Northern Ireland's public housing authority, has started building its first new houses in 25 years.

Since the mid-1990s, social housing in Northern Ireland has been built by housing associations.

Three years ago Stormont's then housing minister announced a change to the Housing Executive's remit so it could start building again.

It has now broken ground on a small project in north Belfast.

Housing Executive chief executive Grainia Long said she hoped the project would "offer a blueprint for the future of social housing".

She added: "We are not just building new homes for our tenants for the first time in a generation.

Grainia Long said she hoped the project would offer a blueprint for the future of social housing

"We are building future-proofed homes that will be constructed to a standard beyond that of current building regulations in Northern Ireland."

The move to get the Housing Executive building again was part of a wider package of measures announced by Carál Ní Chuilín, then communities minister, who said change was needed to increase the supply of social homes.

"We need housing sectors beyond social housing to provide affordable and suitable homes," she told the assembly.

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The new Housing Executive project, which is being delivered by construction company GEDA, is a pilot scheme of six houses being built to very high energy efficiency standards.

The project is being built to "passive house standards" meaning they are airtight and highly insulated so the heating needs to be used rarely compared to conventional houses.