Paradigm Housing Group: The Unicorn Pub, Luton

“The development has helped provide a more positive outlook for the community.”

Susan Pasint-Magyar

Number of homes: 14 (all affordable)
Cost: £2 million

Calling time on a derelict pub, the Wheatfield Road development not only provides 14 new affordable rent homes for families on the council’s 8,000-strong housing waiting list but is also credited with bringing to an end years of anti-social behaviour. Following the closure of the Unicorn pub in 2011, the area was blighted with crime: 115 incidents, including drug use, general anti-social behaviour and criminal damage, were reported within a 200-metre radius of the site between November 2012 and December 2013. Two of the properties in the scheme, which received £625,000 Homes and Communities Agency funding, are bungalows designed for people with additional support needs.