A £12m headquarters development with the potential to create more than 50 jobs is about to be unveiled by the Forest's largest housing association.

This week Two Rivers Housing is to submit proposals to move fromvits rented base in Mitcheldean to a new headquarters on a three acre site in Newent.

But the scheme offers: "something really different" according to chief executive, Garry King.

"Something which should define the next stage of our development."

The plans are allegedly innovative. Rather than a simple shift of desks from one headquarters to another, Two Rivers argues the scheme involves the following.

•A new headquarters for Two Rivers, the biggest social housing organisation in the Forest, creating 55 new jobs and housing 85 staff.

•An extra care centre for elderly and vulnerable residents

•A mixed use business village with housing

• A range of start-up business units and eight 'work/live' units – meaning you have a workplace downstairs and a place to live upstairs.

•A community centre

The mixed development is unusual in that it is neither just housing, retail nor a industrial development, but a mix.

King argues: "We wanted to bring forward a development that would not only provide us with a new office, but also offers facilities to benefit local people.

"There is a huge need for a solution to rising unemployment and for care facilities in the area and this will offer a viable solution to both."

Chair of Two Rivers says: "Two Rivers Housing is about more than bricks and mortar. We are about delivering schemes that have a wider benefit to the whole community."