Work has started on a development of four houses on land owned by West Sussex County Council in Orchard Street, Chichester.
The project is designed to not only give social and economic benefits to the local economy, but also to unlock the value of the site to reinvest in West Sussex.
The land became surplus to educational requirements in 2000 after the closure of a school canteen based on the site.
Over the following years the single storey pre-cast concrete buildings saw a variety of uses before finally becoming disused.
The County Council is now using the site to provide local housing and create work for local contractors.
West Sussex County Council Cabinet Member for Finance, Michael Brown, said: “This is one of the first projects we are putting forward under our PropCo banner. We want to have a focused approach to how land we hold is developed prior to disposal in order to create opportunities locally, bring wider economic benefits and unlock the potential and value of the site.”
Working with the well-known Arundel based architect Neil Holland, and family run Chichester builder W Stirland Limited, the County Council is creating a traditionally-built development of four homes, each with four bedrooms.
The two semi-detached and two detached houses will be arranged around a new drive with individual floor areas varying between 1900 and 2400 sq ft.
County Council Leader, Louise Goldsmith (pictured), said: “I’m delighted that we are able to use local contractors with this development and that the 1930’s style design has been put together to fit sympathetically with the surrounding housing near to the city walls.”
Site work has now commenced and the completed homes will be released for sale to the private market with a completion planned during the summer of 2016.
