Nine three-bed social rent flats built by Hertsmere council in Borehamwood have topped out, three for disabled residents. Families move in within months.

Nine new council homes for social rent in Borehamwood have reached their highest point. Hertsmere Borough Council announced the topping-out of its Catterick Way scheme on 29 September. The flats are due to be finished and let to local families in the coming months.

It is the council’s first new-build scheme in many years to be entirely for social rent and built by the council itself. That is according to its news release when building started in February.

What is being built

The block stands on a former garage site between 22 Catterick Way and 158 Croxdale Road. Planning permission, reference 24/0414/FUL, was granted on 25 July 2024 for a three storey block.

The council’s two releases describe the homes:

  • nine three-bedroom family flats, all for social rent
  • three ground floor homes adapted for residents with physical disabilities, with fully accessible bathrooms
  • private gardens for those three ground floor homes
  • landscaping and secure cycle storage

A later approval in June 2026, 26/0385/VOC, swapped the planned hanging tiles for brickwork and changed the windows to uPVC.

The topping-out release says the scheme will also provide temporary accommodation for homeless households. LIFE Build Solutions is the building contractor, with Pellings as the employer’s agent.

Council leader Jeremy Newmark said the homes were paid for with developer contributions. “We retain the nomination rights in perpetuity,” he said. That means the council decides who is offered the homes, now and in future.

Why nine homes matter here

Nine flats sounds small. For three-bedroom social rent homes in Hertsmere, it is not.

Bar chart of three-bedroom social rent homes let in Hertsmere each year, new builds and relets combined: 20 in 2021/22, 18 in 2022/23, 19 in 2023/24, 25 in 2024/25 and 24 in 2025/26 up to 21 January.
Chart by The Borehamwood Post
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The council’s housing portfolio holder gave figures to its Policy Review Committee in March. They show how few family-sized social rent homes become free:

  • between 18 and 25 three-bedroom social rent homes were let in each of the last five years
  • only 10 of those, across all five years, were new builds, all in 2024/25
  • in 2025/26, up to 21 January, 24 were let and none were new

So Catterick Way adds nine new homes to a pool where only about 20 three-bed social rent lets come up in a typical year.

The same presentation shows the pressure on the council’s homelessness service:

  • 1,652 homelessness approaches in 2024/25, up from 822 in 2019/20
  • 1,415 approaches in 2025/26 by 19 February
  • 114 households in temporary accommodation in January 2026, of which 28 were placed outside the borough

The topping-out release says the scheme “will reduce the number of families placed in temporary accommodation outside of Hertsmere”.

What it means for you

  • The homes will be let through the council’s housing register. You cannot apply for Catterick Way directly. Hertsmere’s allocations policy changed on 2 February 2026, giving more priority to those in greatest need and to families with older children sharing a room.
  • Neighbours in Catterick Way and Croxdale Road should expect building work to continue until the homes are finished. The council has not given a completion date beyond “the months ahead”.
  • The council-built homes come as a private block of 41 flats on Theobald Street looks set to lose its eight affordable homes. Councillors decide that on Thursday.

More on homes and prices in the town is on our Borehamwood house prices page.