Solutions for North Tyneside, has been named as preferred bidder to deliver North Tyneside's Quality Homes for Older People PFI. The consortium, composed of Miller Construction, Equitix and Keepmoat, will carry out the refurbishment and construction work and will also be responsible for the cleaning, repair and maintenance over the 28 year contract.

The £300 million partnership will deliver more than 900 apartments across 10 new and 16 refurbished sheltered housing schemes.

North Tyneside Elected Mayor Linda Arkley said: "This is fantastic news for our tenants but also the borough and region as a whole.  The new accommodation will be spacious and of a very high quality - exceeding the standard we sought - and designed to enable our tenants to continue living in their home as they grow older.

"For the borough and wider region, this will be a significant construction project, and is expected to be the largest housing project in the region over the next 3 years.  It will give a big boost to the local economy and I'm delighted that a high proportion of the new 500 jobs being created are for residents in our most deprived wards."

It is expected work will start on site in September and all the schemes will be completed by autumn 2016.

Source: Miller Construction