Located in Boisar East, around 1.5 km from the railway station is Tata’s integrated green township. The townshipis spread over 63.5 acres and houses two kinds of projects.
- Low Cost Housing named Shubha Griha
- Affordable Housing named New Haven
The township is complete in all aspects – community centres, recreation facilities, schools, hospitals, etc. The green design incorporates features such as maximum natural ventilation, glazed windows, energy-saving compact fluorescent lights, solar public lighting, open and green landscapes, rain water harvesting, etc.
Shubh Griha – Low Cost Housing (Sold Out)
Tata Housing’s Nano flats were sold at a starting price of around Rs3.9 lakh. Consisting of 1RK (360/283 sqf ) & 1 BHK (465 sqf) apartments the complex was sold out at approximately Rs1,400 per sq ft. Subha Griha is an integrated township with school, playground and hospital facilities. The complex consists of Ground +2 buildings with a large community centre, gardens, special retail and hawking zones.
Developing land on a joint ownership basis with land owners, Subha Griha ensured that capital was not blocked and costs remained low. It incorporated new low-cost construction technologies, such as prefabrication. Steel and cement vendors and suppliers were locked on long-term contracts. Marketing and distribution costs were drastically reduced. While normal costs hover at 5 per cent of project costs, in the case of the Shubha Griha scheme, the marketing costs were capped at less than 2 per cent.
Most of the advertising was through press reports and advertisements at railway stations and bus depots. It relied heavily on word of mouth. Distribution of application forms (for low cost housing) was outsourced to other partners, including State Bank of India. For a scheme of 1,000 flats more than 7,000 customers queued up to pay the booking amount for the flats. In the midst of the frenzy, Tata Housing managed to get the number of flats increased from 1,000 to 1,300 and allotted the flats by lottery.
Shubh Griha scheme unique is that as much as 35-40 per cent of the buyers are in the unorganised sector, people who hitherto had no access to formal housing funds. Another unusual aspect of the scheme is its customer-friendly design. The flats have been designed specifically to suit the lifestyles of the target audience. For instance, the flats come with ready lofts for storage, large living rooms that can be converted into extra sleeping areas at night, toilets that are distanced from the kitchen etc. The residents of Shubh Griha also serve as domestic help (maids, servants, drivers, peons etc.) for residents of New Haven.
Affordable New Haven
The New Haven was affordable housing targeting primarily middle/senior managers and executives of SMEs of Boisar/Tarapur. Majority of the flats of New Haven are booked by JSW and TATA Steel to accommodate its work force. Tata New Haven has its own educational facility, club house, health care, shopping centre, swimming pool, gymnasium, gardens etc.
The two-BHK (690/820/930 sqf) and three-BHK (1200/1380 sqf) flats in New Haven, with areas ranging from 690 sq ft to 1,380 sq ft, were sold at Rs 1,900 per sq ft initially. With both phases I and II sold out, Tata Housing has recently fully sold out phase III at an average price of around Rs 2,200 per sq ft. The response to New Haven has been phenomenal.
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