Cloes Lane is rebuilt following gas explosion in Clacton Monday, 10th July 2017

A house which was destroyed by a gas explosion in Clacton has been completely rebuilt and will soon have new tenants moving into the property.

Ingleton Wood have been working in partnership with Tendring District Council (TDC) and Rose Builders to complete the project in Cloes Lane.

The gas explosion occurred three years ago and efforts to carry out the work on the new property were hampered by a boundary dispute. It was eventually resolved earlier this year.

Keys were handed over to the Council on Friday and Andrew Marchant, Associate Building Surveyor based at the Colchester office of Ingleton Wood, provided project management, design and building surveying services for the project. Andrew was on site for the handover and said;

“This was an important project to help rebuild a home after an incident that shocked the local community,” he said. “We were pleased to be able to lead the redevelopment of this property and hope the new tenants will be very happy in their new home.”

Paul Honeywood, the Council's Cabinet Member for Housing, said that he was very pleased with the scheme.

“It has been finished to a good standard and will provide us with an excellent three-bedroom property for a tenant to take over in due course,” he added.

“The explosion made national news headlines at the time and it is really good to see that the rubble has now been replaced with a new home for a family.”

The blast in February 2014 reduced one family’s home to rubble and wiped out a second home.

Other properties were also damaged in the incident and nine people were injured - two of them seriously. All the casualties were taken to hospital for treatment and fortunately no one died.

The adjoining semi-detached home which had to be demolished, has not yet been redeveloped by the owners.

However, provision has been made for that to take place at a later time with a connection to the party wall.

The Council helped to find accommodation for some of those residents affected by the blast, while other people made their own arrangements.

Credit: Tendring District Council.