A PROJECT to build around 100 affordable homes on a former school site have reached a “crucial step” in the multi-million-pound scheme.

Dorset Council has launched the tender process for a contractor to build affordable housing, including homes with care and support, as part of its Purbeck Gateway development.

The contract is listed as having a value of £30million with a start date of April next year.

In March, councillors signed of on plans to develop the 1.6-hectare site, which includes the former Wareham Middle School site in Worgret Road.

Graham Carr-Jones, Dorset Counil portfolio holder for housing and community safety, said: “The current procurement exercise for Purbeck Gateway is a crucial step in which we will select our development partner and then move forward together for the next phase of our housing and community development near Wareham town centre.

“Once the contract is awarded, detailed design work will take place to include co-production of designs with people who live in ‘homes with care and support’ and the council’s technical stakeholders such as occupational therapists.

“Our development partner will submit a planning application for the scheme once this important work concludes.

“All the homes will be affordable, and a significant proportion will be affordable homes with care and support. We estimate 90 to 100 new homes will be created, with the final number known once the detailed designs are complete and planning consent is in place.”

Plans for the site have been in the pipeline for years following the demolition of the school buildings in 2013.

Two years ago 18 temporary housing units for supported accommodation were installed.

Residents of these homes, which was called Red Oak Coast, will be able to move into permanent accommodation once the Purbeck Gateway scheme is delivered, if they want to.

The current timeline for the project suggests the development partner will submitted a planning application in spring 2023, with construction starting in 2024.