New homes for residents of the West End’s dilapidated Albert and Victoria Rows will be open for business in roughly a month’s time.

The building of 20 prefabricated units at Victoria Place is about 80 percent complete, according to West End Development Corporation (Wedco) general manager Andrew Dias.

It was originally hoped the units would have been completed this month, but rainy weather has hampered the project.

“The moment of truth is when you start to turn things on — but I don’t anticipate any major issues,” Mr Dias said, adding that tenants of the old housing should get a tour of the housing development in the next week or two.

One last building remains to be put in place. Mr Dias said four of the current buildings have been painted yellow and pink, giving them a traditional Bermudian appearance.

“They’re very, very strong,” Mr Dias said. “They’ve been engineered to resist hurricanes and can withstand extreme pressures.”

The roofs for the units don’t rest on wooden supports and will not fall prey to termites, he said, and with sections weighing between 8,000 and 14,000 pounds they should resist being pried up by storm winds.

Constant rains of recent months have led to “a little bit of delay”, said Mr Dias, adding that Wedco’s recent series of meetings with Albert and Victoria tenants have been characterised by “respectful, open dialogue”.

The old buildings will remain standing and Wedco is currently examining alternative uses for them.

Asked if there might be commercial applications for the historic buildings, Mr Dias said: “We’re reviewing ideas — obviously, if anyone wants to come forward with a proposal we’ll hear it.”

The project was scaled down substantially from the $36 million, 100-home project envisioned under the former Progressive Labour Party administration. It has kept to its budget of $24.7 million.

Two leftover buildings are to be put in place at the National Sports Centre in Devonshire, where they will provide accommodation for athletes.

Yesterday, NSC chairman Sean Tucker said a site had been identified for the houses but officials were still ensuring the houses would have access to utilities.

Transporting the structures to the centre would also prove “quite a task to orchestrate”, Mr Tucker said.

“It will be a similar exercise to when we had to move the bulkhead for the swimming pool up from the docks. That was huge.”