Scores of new council homes will be built in Elgin as part of the efforts to keep pace with the town’s growing population.
Moray Council accepted a tender from Springfield Properties this week to build 50 properties in Glassgreen in the south of the town.
The development, which will be equally funded between the authority and the Scottish Government, will include a range of one to five-bedroom properties with a mix of houses and bungalows.
Moray Council has set a target of building 70 new homes a year in order to address the shortage of affordable housing with 231 expected to be built before the end of 2021.
There are currently 3,500 applications on the authority’s waiting list for a property.
Work is expected to start on the Glasgreen site shortly.
Louise Laing, chairwoman of the council’s communities committee, explained the homes had also been designed to address fuel poverty.
She added: “The heating and energy requirements from these homes will be as efficient as we can make it.
“They will all have state-of-the-art systems that will result in low running costs for our tenants, and I’m delighted to see that some will be purpose-built for those in wheelchairs or who are elderly. It is far more cost-efficient to build these facilities in from the start rather than retro-fit.”