The location of a new city apartment block to be built by the Government has been revealed.

The five-storey mixed commercial and residential structure will be on Ewing Street but work on it has been delayed because of an injunction to stop development on the site.

Vance Campbell, general manager of Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC), told a public meeting in Warwick that he wanted to avoid naming the road where the building would be.

But Sports Minister Dale Butler revealed the location and asked Mr. Campbell why BHC had not built it yet. ?I know the answer but I want the public to know why,? he said.

Mr. Campbell replied: ?We did have an injunction by one of our neighbours placed against the property. We were successful in getting that injunction lifted. The injunction in our opinion proved a good thing in that it gave us time to reflect.

?We are going to make better use of that site.?

He said the building was still in the ?conceptual stage? but said it would have two commercial floors below three residential floors. ?It?s an example of maximising the footprint,? he said, adding that there would be 7,000 square feet of commercial space and 12 rental units created.

?On that particular location we had three rent units. It?s definitely an improvement on the use of space.?

Mr. Campbell also revealed that tenants of another new Government housing project will pay rent based on their income.

He said rent for 38 homes to be built at Perimeter Lane would be based on a percent of the tenant?s income to ensure to ensure that no one living at the development spends more than 30 percent of their salary on rent. If the idea works, it is likely to be used at other sites.

?Perimeter Lane will be a project that we test that concept on,? said Mr. Campbell. ?We are trying to create a community where we learn from each other and the community will help sustain itself. It?s a unique product for the Bermuda Housing Corporation in more than one way.?

He said that BHC was working towards a building permit and that plans for the development were well under way.

It will feature 38 units in two three-storey blocks and one five-storey block. Sixteen of the units will have two bedrooms, 12 will have one bedroom and ten will have three bedrooms.

The blocks will have sprinkler systems, elevators and their own generator in case of power cuts. They will be next to a former dump and Mr. Campbell said he recognised that there was a stigma attached to the area.

?We are looking to do this project in good taste,? he said. ?We are on target. Everything is in place. We hope to have activity on that site within the third quarter of this calendar year. That is, actual on-site work.?

Mr. Campbell told the meeting at Warwick Workman?s Club on Thursday night that work on a minimum of 40 to 50 emergency housing units in two structures at Southside would begin before the end of the year ?if not sooner?.

And he said two projects at Anchorage Lane in St. George?s were on target for an August finish and that another scheme at Butterfield Lane should be completed in September.

He said Housing Minister David Burch had some ?interesting concepts? as to how the Anchorage Lane units would be filled.

?It may be something unique to Bermuda, something unique to planet earth,? he said.

Mr. Campbell, who has been general manager of BHC for three years, said the corporation could begin to look forward now that the Terrence Smith trial was over.

?For a number of years we were forced to look back as a result of the troubled times of 2001/02,? he said. ?What I hope with the completion of the trial is that people will now focus on the positive things that have been going on for a number of years but have not been given full credit.?

He added that BHC?s financial statements for 2004/05 had been audited and found to be in order.