Gloucester-based Aqua Construction will today (March 21) hand over the keys to a city centre development.

The firm has just completed a £4m project to build 25 one- and two-bed flats for social rent on Northgate Street, on behalf of Gloucester City Homes (GCH).

Known as Northgate Mansions, the five-storey building is a stone's throw from The Forum and part of the regeneration of this area of the city.

The project took 22 months to complete, with 90% of the workforce coming from Gloucestershire.

Jason Wasley, managing director of Aqua Construction, said: "It was a very complex build. Overall, we've had 45 different contractors, 380 different people and something like 58,000 hours of work from start to finish."

Contractors working on Northgate Mansions worked from more than 200 different drawings and the finished building used:

• 124 tonnes of steel

• 79,000 bricks

• 30,000 concrete blocks, weighing 562 tonnes

• 11,500m of scaffolding

• 20,000m of electric cable

Derek Gibbs, construction director at Aqua, said: "It has been a very technical build from the foundations up, working around historic archaeological remains on site and designing the 124-tonnes steel frame. The result is an impressive building at the heart of the city, uplifting the area and adding to the regeneration of the King's Quarter."

The former printworks site had been derelict for over 20 years. One of the biggest challenges of the build was trying to fit a 2,000sq m building into a 650sq m site.

The energy efficient building, which also has commercial space on the ground floor, includes a green roof for sustainable drainage.

Northgate Mansions is the 22nd project Aqua Construction has worked on for Gloucester City Homes, delivering over 150 homes for local people.

Michael Hill, executive director of customer experience at GCH, said: "It is a really proud moment for GCH to launch Northgate Mansions at such a key site in the city. Truly affordable housing like this improves health and education outcomes and enhances overall community stability and wellbeing. These new homes will open doors for employment inside and outside the city."

Aqua Construction acquired the land through Ash & Co Chartered Surveyors and further developed the design with Quattro Design Architects and Gloucester City Council's planning department, to manage the project through to finished construction.

Keys to the first seven properties were handed over two weeks ago, with the keys to the remaining 18 flats handed over today. All of the flats have already been let.

See what the development looked like a year ago here. 

For more information, visit https://aquaconstruction or call 01452 722212.