Arsenal regeneration construction to begin this summer - PHOTOS

Construction work is set to start this summer on 729 new homes in north London to complete Arsenal FC’s Emirates stadium regeneration scheme.

Six residential blocks up to 15 storeys high will be built on former industrial land next to the new stadium.

The £120m scheme has been the subject of years of planning wrangling and a sustained opposition campaign from local residents.

Islington council finally approved the project after the club agreed to build a 1,600 square metre sports centre as part of the complex.

The Arsenal Sports Centre will include two indoor pitches and be available for community use.

Arsenal director Ken Friar said: "As a result of building Emirates stadium we have transformed over 60 acres of derelict land, delivered over 2,500 new homes and constructed a new waste recycling centre."

The latest planning consent is the final piece in the jigsaw of the redevelopment of Ashburton Grove which saw the Emirates stadium replace the Gunners’ former home at Highbury.

The old stadium has been transformed into a housing development but the crash in the property market has hit the club’s profits.

Construction of 186 flats on the Highbury site is close to completion at a cost of £76.7m.

But only £58.1m of that total had been covered by agreed sales by the end of last year and the club admitted that loans related to the project would have to be refinanced.

Chairman Peter Hill-Wood said: "The UK property market has been particularly affected by the economic downturn and, inevitably, this has had an impact on the group’s own property development activities in the period.

"The financial arrangements for the group’s property activities are separate and largely operate independently from the financing of the football business."