A ROW of 27 empty terrace homes in Colne will be brought back to life through a £1.7million scheme.

Specialist empty homes developer PlaceFirst and the Together Housing Group are working in partnership to transform the properties in Walton Street.

The project will create one three-bed and 26 two-bed energy-efficient homes for affordable rent, as well as public realm improvements to the street and rear alleys with funding from Pendle Council.

A number of properties in the street not acquired by PlaceFirst will also undergo a facelift.

Julie Whittaker, Pendle Council’s housing and regeneration manager, said: “We’re delighted to be working with PlaceFirst and Together Housing on this scheme.

“These high-quality refurbishments will not only improve this area of Colne, but will help to provide much-needed affordable homes in the area, whilst bringing empty properties back into use.”

Construction work will start this month and is due to be completed in May 2015, with the first release of homes planned for November this year.

On completion, the homes will be managed by Housing Pendle, the Colne-based housing association which manages more than 3,500 homes across Pendle and is part of Together Housing Group.

David Smith-Milne, founder and managing director of Manchester-based Place First, said the work on the properties would be a ‘significant step forward’ in the regeneration of the wider Waterside area of Colne.

He said: “The homes we are working on will be stripped back to their shells and completely refurbished to create affordable, high-quality homes with household energy costs reduced by 60 per cent in most cases.”