Housing Matters - November 2022
Corporate news
New Corporate strategy
2022-26
AGM in Norwich, September 2022
At our 2022 AGM in Norwich in September we launched our new Corporate Strategy 2022-2026.
Addressing Broadland members, our Chief Executive Michael Newey outlined the significant challenges faced by the social housing sector in the coming years.
With rising costs and a probable rent cap in prospect, Michael said that Broadland Housing would focus on the immediate priorities for tenants. Some longer-term ambitions may have to be scaled back in the short term – something he called “incredibly frustrating”.
However, Michael said that launching our new 5-year Corporate Strategy was a sign of our ability to maintain a long-term perspective and demonstrated our resilience.
Delivering homes, catching up on repairs
Despite the challenges of the continuing Covid pandemic during 2021/2022, Broadland Housing delivered 136 new homes during the year, including 111 for affordable rent and a further 25 for shared ownership. We allocated 482 homes during the year, including homes for 163 homeless households.
After the lockdown period, we focused on catching up with non-urgent repairs, carrying out 17,761 repairs during the year.
Nevertheless, Michael acknowledged at the meeting that the immediate future would present particular challenges for the social housing sector:
“After two years operating in a pandemic, we all hoped that the coming year would see a more benign operating environment, but the truth is that we are presented with some very tough economic conditions. Costs continue to rise, affecting our budgets, and particularly the cost of maintenance materials.
“At the same time, our tenants are also facing a really challenging economic period, with soaring energy prices and high inflation.
“It seems likely that the Government will implement a rent cap at a level below inflation for social housing. That is a good idea, in that it recognises the financial challenges our tenants face. However, we can only spend each pound once, so we will have to find a way to live within the cap and deal with our rising costs.
“That means we must focus on the immediate priorities of supporting our tenants, and unfortunately that will entail scaling back some of our short-term ambitions, especially in terms of new development and planned improvement works.
“That is incredibly frustrating, but I am confident that we are a very resilient organisation which can maintain a longer-term perspective, and our new Corporate Strategy will help us to achieve that.”
Thanking staff, tenants, Board members and partners for their support during the year, Michael promised that we would remain focused on our core mission during the coming year:
“We have the resilience and the determination to get through what will undoubtedly be a tough economic period, and we remain dedicated to supporting our tenants, helping to reduce homelessness, and making a positive contribution to communities in Norfolk and north Suffolk.”
Broadland’s 2022-26 Corporate Strategy
- Providing high-quality housing management services that meet the needs of existing and potential new tenants
- Providing high-quality repair services
- Supporting tenants at risk of losing their homes by working with them to minimise the number of failed tenancies
- Investing in tenants’ homes to improve quality and energy efficiency
- Involving tenants in shaping services, and being accountable to them on how services are delivered and money is spent
- Working to reduce homelessness locally, and lobbying for policy change nationally
- Maximising the number of new affordable homes built each year, without compromising services to existing tenants or threatening the organisation’s long-term stability
- Using financial resources responsibly and effectively to deliver strategic aims
- Managing financial resources sensibly
- Ensuring good governance at board, committee and leadership team levels
- Reducing the carbon footprint of Broadland’s homes and activities
- Ensuring Broadland is a good employer
‘Topping out’ ceremony for final phase of Canary Quay, Norwich
The fourth and final building in our Canary Quay development was ceremoniously ‘topped out’ with ale from local brewer Woodfordes in October. Phase 4 will deliver 101 new homes – 46 for shared ownership and 55 to be sold on the open market.
Overall, Canary Quay will create 323 new homes on the Norwich riverside.
Broadland Housing’s chair Chris Ewbank and Executive Development Director Andrew Savage were joined by Alex Mackay and Paul Cushing of our construction partners R G Carter to perform the ceremony.
Work starts on 7 new affordable homes at Ketts Hill, Norwich
Work is well underway on our joint project with Norwich City Council to build 7 new affordable houses at Ketts Hill. The homes are aimed at helping rough sleepers in the city.
Norwich City Council has provided the land, and we are building the homes with the help of grant funding from Homes England via the Rough Sleepers Accommodation Programme.
The 7 x 1-bedroom homes have a timber frame design for speed of construction and to ensure low embodied carbon. Each home will have its own small front garden.
Second joint homelessness project
Councillor Gail Harris, Norwich City Council’s cabinet member for social housing, joined Andrew Savage, our Executive Development Director, at a short ceremony to mark the start of work on site. Gail said:
“This is the second joint homelessness project between the city council and Broadland Housing Association, which builds on the success of our first build at Lakenfields.
“The project team has secured funding from the Rough Sleepers Accommodation Programme, which will enable 7 new homes to be built and also fund support workers to help the residents settle into their new homes. They will also provide the help each individual needs to live independent, happy and fulfilling lives.
“As at Lakenfields this site will soon provide high-quality, affordable housing for those in desperate need of accommodation and support – another small development which will transform lives.”
Andrew Savage, Executive Development Director, Broadland Housing Association, added:
“This project builds on the continual partnership working between the City Council and Broadland Housing Association in tackling some of the most difficult sites and developments to bring much-needed affordable accommodation to the city.
“These homes will once again be built to the high-quality standards we have for all our homes. These new homes, in the heart of Norwich on a disused piece of land, will ensure that more people leave the streets and can have a home to call their own.”
Norwich-based property and construction consultancy Ingleton Wood has been appointed to provide architectural and utility design services for the Ketts Hill development. Chris Stammers, Director and Architect at Ingleton Wood, said:
“We are proud to help shape the Ketts Hill project, which will provide immediate support for those in desperate housing need across Norwich.
“This contemporary take on a traditional terrace will provide high-quality living accommodation in an attractive setting, with essential facilities for future residents. Ketts Hill is an exemplar of multi-agency collaboration to benefit the local community.”
The 7 new homes are being built by local constructor H Smith & Sons of Honingham. The timber frames are manufactured in Norfolk by Timber Frame Management. The project is due to be completed in autumn 2022.
Front row: Cate Oliver, cabinet member for Environmental Services, Norwich City Council (2nd left); Chris Ewbank, Chair, Broadland Housing; Gail Harris, Deputy Leader, Norwich City Council; Andrew Savage, Executive Development Director, Broadland Housing
Prize-winning development
Our Canary Quay project in Norwich has won ‘Best Use of Steel Technology’ in the Offsite Awards 2022. The awards celebrate outstanding examples of offsite construction design and technology. Canary Quay was also a finalist in the Social Housing Project of the Year and Client of the Year categories.
Executive Development Director Andrew Savage said:
“We’re extremely pleased to be recognised in these awards. It highlights the exciting work we’re doing in partnership with RG Carter and Sigmat at Canary Quay.”
Canary Quay, Norwich
Canary Quay phase 4 (credit: R G Carter)
Phase 4 kitchen interior
Richard Hawthorn House
Meanwhile, our Lakenfields scheme in Norwich has reached the finals of the RTPI national awards for planning excellence. The winners will be announced on 30 November 2022.
Andrew commented:
“This scheme allowed us to build affordable housing quickly to address homelessness in Norwich. Thanks to close partnership working with the local authority, the planning team were able to gain consent quickly and without any pre-commencement conditions to hit the necessary timescales.”
Lakenfields
Lakenfields interior
Learning from complaints
We continue to learn from our tenants’ complaints. There has been an increase in formal complaints over the last few months. As expected, we are receiving more complaints about repairs while we are trying to schedule the backlog.
Iain said:
The increase in complaints has meant we are not able to respond to all tenants’ complaints within our published timescales, but we are working through them as quickly as possible.
Complaints are an opportunity for us to learn about how we can improve our service.
We identified the following learnings between April and June:
- Aids and Adaptations - a review of our Aids and Adaptations policy and process, including timescales and how we can improve communication with tenants.
- Repairs - we will incorporate any learnings about repairs into the future project about how we schedule repairs.
- Out of hours - we will review any out of hours emergency repairs by 10.30am to ensure we are able to prioritise follow-on works and communicate promptly with tenants.
We will be publishing our latest Self-Assessment, providing more information on our progress against the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code, in our tenant magazine Door to Door in January.
RIP Martin Miller 1926-2022
We were very sad to hear of the passing of Martin Miller, Broadland Housing Association’s first Chief Executive, in August. Martin first came to Broadland in 1968 and helped establish some of our most popular housing schemes, including The Cedars in Norwich. After Martin stepped down from his role in 1991, he continued to support Broadland as a member. Until the pandemic, he attended our AGM every year, sharing his vast experience and knowledge.
Michael Newey, our Chief Executive, commented:
“Martin’s contribution to the people of Norfolk and to Broadland Housing was massive. As our first Chief Executive he helped grow Broadland from one scheme in Norwich to over 1,700 affordable rented homes across the county.
“Martin knew that a home is the foundation of everything else in life and he ensured that Broadland stretched itself to deliver new homes that communities needed. His family can be very proud of his contribution to this county and to the lives of so many people over the years.”
Martin Miller and Michael Newey at The Cedars 25th anniversary