The regeneration of a beleaguered Inverkeithing street is taking a massive leap forward as demolition work starts in Fraser Avenue.
Built in the 50s and 60s, the street had been in terminal decline for many years, suffering from low demand and high turnover.
New life is being breathed into the area, with ambitious plans to raze it to the ground and begin anew.
In March 2015, Fife Council appointed Kingdom Housing Association to be its preferred development partner on the project and agreed to a full demolition and complete redevelopment of Fraser Avenue for low rise housing.
Since then, the council and Kingdom has consulted with tenants and residents to find out what was important to them and what they would like to see developed in the area.
The new housing will be developed over four phases.
The first will see flats, houses and lock up garages demolished to make way for Kingdom to start building 53 new homes for social rent – 52 of these new homes will be allocated to tenants from Fraser Avenue who wish to remain in the street.
Work is beginning on site this week with temporary security fencing being installed for public safety before the contractor begins to “soft strip” the flats.
This involves the removal of doors, windows, toilets and kitchen units.
Once this phase is complete, bulldozers will move in with demolition work expected to take around eight weeks to complete.
Housing spokeswoman Judy Hamilton said: “The demolition of these flats is making way for a brand new development of fit for purpose housing.
“The new homes will be the first affordable housing completed in Inverkeithing since 2010 and the properties will contribute to meeting the wider housing needs in the pressured Inverkeithing area.
“It has been a major achievement getting phase one ready to demolish this year and I would like to thank everyone involved, particularly the tenants and residents directly affected.
“Without their co-operation we wouldn’t have reached this stage in the development.”
Kingdom’s chief executive Bill Banks added: “The demolition is another exciting milestone in the regeneration of the area which will pave the way for the construction of the first phase of new high quality homes which is expected to start in January 2017.
“The new housing will meet the needs of the returning tenants and has been developed in consultation with the tenants and the local community.”
Kingdom will receive funding from the Scottish Government to partly finance the redevelopment of the new homes.
