New homes for council tenants are being built in Saltley as Birmingham City Council and partners begin construction work this summer on three plots of land.

A partnership of Birmingham City Council, the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and Keepmoat Homes will see a mixed tenure development of 61 homes, 19 of which will be council houses.

This is the second phase of development at Saltley; over the last 12 months the council has developed 36 homes in this area.

The Saltley Public Land Initiative scheme will see houses built with exceptional design and energy efficiency in mind.

All properties will achieve Code for Sustainable Homes Level 4, which will benefit residents by reducing running costs and energy bills.

New homes will be built in Clodeshall, Couchman and Parkfield Road. Work is expected to begin at the end of July and finish in September 2012.

The total cost of the scheme is £7.03 million, of which the HCA invested £1.7m.

The council will receive 19 properties for rent as part of the deal and all of the new council homes will be family sized accommodation - large four and five bedroom houses.

The HCA invested £1.7m at Saltley and Birmingham City Council contributed its land to develop high standard, energy efficient homes for sale and rent. Keepmoat Homes was appointed.

The homes will be developed by the council's Birmingham Municipal Housing Trust.