BUNGALOWS are being built inside the walls of former lock-up garages.

The two bedroom properties are pre-fabricated at a factory, before they are craned into sites and take 12 weeks to complete.

Landlord and developer Karbon Homes is paying around £800,000 for eight of the innovative ‘HUSK’ homes on Betjeman Close in Stanley and on South Leigh in Tanfield Lea.

The properties are built to exact laser-measured dimensions so they will fit precisely inside the walls of the former garages.

Each home is built in two halves, brought to site on low loaders, then joined together by skilled specialist contractors.

The company behind the new style of home, HUSK, has a patent pending for the method.

Development and regeneration manager Stephen Riding is managing the construction of the new homes, alongside the team from HUSK

He said: “We’re really pleased with the progress so far on these new units.

“This is the first time we’ve tried a pre-fabricated style of property and we’ve been impressed with the results.”