Sovereign Housing Association stepped in after hearing how Mike and Trish Page were struggling with everyday tasks like bathing and moving their rapidly growing son Eddie in their current home at Monks Lane. Sovereign suggested building them a brand new home just round the corner on their new development at The Oaks.

The family met regularly with the project’s architects and housing developers, Lovell, to design the home, with a single storey annex especially for Eddie. This included a ground floor bedroom, a specially adapted en-suite bathroom, wide doorways to allow his wheelchair through, and a ceiling hoist to move Eddie between the bath and the bed.

The family moved into their four-bedroom home at The Oaks, Newbury, just before Christmas, and Sovereign donated a specially adapted swing for Eddie as a housewarming gift.

Mike Page said: “I used to have to carry him up the stairs at the old house and, as he got bigger, it was starting to give me backache. It’s so much easier with Eddie having a ground floor bedroom and bathroom, as well as his own play area.

“Now we have the extra space, my goal for this year is to get Eddie moving around more, and exploring the place.”

This is the first purpose-built wheelchair home that Sovereign has designed in this way, and Mark Corfield of Sovereign’s Regeneration team said: “This has been one of the most pleasing aspects of the redevelopment of the former Sandleford Rise estate. Although it is more expensive to build, there are long-term benefits because the family will not need to move home again or require future adaptations. They now have a home for life.”

Sovereign was recently praised by the Audit Commission for being particularly responsive to the needs of disabled residents, routinely providing aids and adaptations without their residents needing to apply for special grant aid.

Sovereign was rated one of the best social landlords in the country, following their inspection by the Audit Commission last year.