A WORCESTER housing project which had been mothballed because of the downturn in the market, has been revived.

An innovative deal has been struck that will see the development of 14 new homes at Merchants Court, off Diglis Road. The project is a partnership between developers Deeley Homes and registered provider Worcester Community Housing.

In order to make the most of the faltering development, WCH stepped in and bought the site, giving Deeley Homes’ sister company Deeley Construction the green light to go ahead and restart work.

Pat Moroney, of the Deeley Group, said: “Merchants Court is an outstanding scheme and if the market was stronger, we were confident it would have sold extremely well. When we reached a point that we could not continue with the development, we wanted to make sure that there was still a quality scheme left behind rather than an unfinished blight. That’s why we have worked so hard with Worcester Community Housing to strike this important deal that is good for everyone.”

Jane Fradgley, development manager at Worcester Community Housing, said: “The canal-side development features a mixture of two, three and four-bedroom homes. They are due for completion at the end of 2012.”