A £1m development is providing 18 bungalows for elderly people on a former garage site near Spennymoor town centre.
The Tower Coachworks building in King Street, where the Raine family ran a coach building and accident repair business until November last year, has been demolished to make way for the small estate, which also occupies the company's car park.
Tees Valley Housing Group is developing the site after Sedgefield Borough Council identified the need for the type of accommodation in its local plan.
Although there will be no residents' warden, each bungalow will be fitted with a Tunstall Lifeline 400 system, so tenants can summon help in an emergency.
A social housing grant of £581,051 from the Housing Corporation has helped to pay for the development.
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