Housing Matters - May 2022
Corporate news
5 new homes for rough sleepers in Breckland
In partnership with Breckland Council, Broadland is building 5 new homes in Thetford for former rough sleepers. Tenants will be supported to transition into longer-term accommodation, and receive help to access education, employment opportunities and healthcare.
Broadland is building 5 new homes in Thetford for former rough sleepers, in partnership with Breckland Council
The new development, which will be completed later this year, includes 4 x 2-storey, 1-bedroom terraced homes and an adjoining bungalow, with a shared garden space.
The homes are being developed in the grounds of Elm House, formerly called Elm Road Community Centre. Breckland Council is converting the centre itself into emergency accommodation units.
Funding
The £926,000 project is being funded by Broadland Housing and Breckland Council, following a successful grant for £245,000 from Homes England. The project is part of Breckland Council’s new corporate plan and Inspiring Communities programme.
Andrew Savage, Executive Development Director, said:
“We are delighted to be working with Breckland Council on this important project. More homes are needed for the rough sleepers of Breckland Council, and Broadland welcomes the opportunity to contribute to providing much-needed homes for homeless people in Norfolk.”
Councillor Paul Claussen, Deputy Leader, Breckland District Council, and Councillor Alison Webb, Executive Member for Housing, Health & Communities, added:
“Breckland Council is committed to tackling the causes of homelessness and supporting rough sleepers. These new units will assist some of the most vulnerable members of our community, enabling them to stay safe, access support and develop the skills needed to live independently.”
4 new affordable homes at Clenchwarton, King’s Lynn
Broadland has acquired 4 new affordable homes at Clenchwarton, near King’s Lynn in west Norfolk, from Trundley Properties.
The 2 x 2-bedroom and 2 x 3-bedroom semi-detached houses are a mix of shared ownership and affordable rent. They are part of a new development of 18 homes at Laurel Farm Meadow by Trundley Properties and Buildwise.
Andrew Savage, Executive Development Director, said:
“This is the first time we have worked with Trundley Properties and we are very pleased with the outcome. We have been able to acquire some very well built, energy-efficient homes to increase the choice of affordable housing in this area of the county.”
Ben Trundley, Construction Manager, Trundley Properties Ltd, said:
“The development includes a social housing element and we are pleased to have identified Broadland Housing as the social housing provider on this scheme. We very much hope we can work with them again in the future.”
Executive Development Director Andrew Savage with Ben Trundley
Developing 18 new council homes in Great Yarmouth
Broadland is working with Great Yarmouth Borough Council on the town’s biggest council homes project in nearly 20 years. Construction work starts in May on 18 new council homes in three blocks of flats on part of the Beach Coach Station, off Nelson Road North in Great Yarmouth.
The 2-person 1-bedroom properties will be built to high energy-efficiency standards, with a shared garden and communal parking area. Once complete, they will be named Jubilee Court, in honour of HM the Queen’s 70 years on the throne.
The £3 million development is the biggest single expansion in council homes in the borough for 17 years and is being supported with funding from the Government's One Public Estate Brownfield Land Release Fund, and Homes England.
Construction work is due to be completed in June 2023.
Great Yarmouth Borough Council leader Carl Smith said:
"This is a landmark project providing much needed affordable new homes and make great use of an underused, brownfield site in the town.
"Through both new properties and work to upgrade the energy-efficiency of our existing housing stock, the council is committed to helping residents live more sustainable lives."
Executive Development Director Andrew Savage said:
“We are very pleased that Broadland Housing has worked in partnership with Great Yarmouth to make this happen.”
World-leading construction industry body visits Canary Quay
Caroline Gumble, Chief Executive Officer at the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) toured our Canary Quay development in March. The CIOB is the world’s largest and most influential professional body for construction management and leadership.
Now in its final phase, Canary Quay will provide 323 mixed tenure apartments when complete. The project has turned an industrial warehouse and car park into a new residential area in the heart of the city.
Caroline noted the close working and collaborative approach between Broadland Housing Association, Broadland St Benedicts and our construction partners RG Carter. She was in Norwich promoting the launch of the new CIOB equality, diversity and inclusion charter for the construction industry.
Caroline Gumble, Chief Executive Officer, CIOB, with Executive Development Director Andrew Savage and James Carter of RG Carter
Sustainable Housing Label
Broadland Housing has received a Sustainable Housing Label from international consultants Ritterwald. We are the first medium-sized housing association to receive the award, which recognises our strong ESG (environmental, social and governance) performance.
The Sustainable Housing Label looks at more than 40 ESG criteria aligned to the Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing, and scrutinises sustainability across the operations of an organisation.
Broadland scored highly on tenant engagement, “ethical” considerations, and “high-quality sustainable housing, staff and tenant wellbeing and tenant representation”.
High score for tenant engagement
Iain Grieve, Executive Finance Director, said:
“There’s a lot of focus on the environmental side and net zero decarbonisation, but actually it’s the wider view of ESG and sustainability that funders are interested in.
“For us, there were some really positive things from the label application process around how we engage with our tenants, and around the communities and the surroundings of our development schemes, how we obtain feedback from our staff, and how we focus on staff wellbeing.”
Austen Reid, UK director, Ritterwald, said:
“A sustainability strategy has to have a strong element of engagement with residents, and Broadland was able to demonstrate it.”
The Sustainable Housing Label, aligned to the UK Sustainability Reporting Standard, is fast becoming a beacon for ESG investors. Broadland’s award was presented at the National Housing Federation housing finance conference in Liverpool, in March. Broadland and Ritterwald jointly hosted a lunch at the event to share the story of their successful journey to accreditation.
Wider benefits for social housing
Ritterwald suggested that Broadland can lead the way for other medium-sized social landlords looking to obtain an externally verified ESG accreditation.
Iain said:
“There’s no need to be intimidated by something like an ESG accreditation, despite the fact that most of the holders are larger housing associations with more resources.
“What we found is that, going through the process, it looks at our operation and the things we would do on a day-to-day basis anyway. It’s allowed us to benchmark our performance against other housing associations, which has been another benefit.
“Ultimately, we’re all trying to achieve the same thing. It’s a really good thing to do, I think, to help us move forward together as a sector.”
Read the full article in Social Housing magazine
Austen Reid, UK director, Ritterwald, with Michael Newey, Chief Executive
Sustainable bonds to fund new housing development
With MORhomes, a borrowing vehicle for the UK social housing sector, we have raised funding to build new homes from the issuance of £15 million of sustainable bonds.
To be eligible for the funding, Broadland had to demonstrate that it is a sustainable business and fulfil certain environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria.
Iain Grieve, Executive Finance Director, said:
“At Broadland we are focused on sustainability across all parts of our organisation. Our involvement with MORhomes and their Sustainability Bond has provided us with an opportunity to demonstrate our ESG credentials and obtain competitively priced, long-term funding that will allow us to develop new affordable homes.”
For more details about the sustainable bonds issuance, please see the MORhomes’ announcement.
Improving our repairs scheduling
Most tenants are happy with our repairs service, according to the latest survey
Following the disruptions of the Covid lockdowns, we invited tenants to take part in a survey about our repairs service. There were questions about our service, delivery times, quality of works and communication methods.
We received 550 responses in total, from a wide demographic of tenants, giving us real insight into what is most important to our tenants when it comes to repairs. The responses ranged from young new home builders to busy family homes and through to our older tenants.
We had some great feedback:
- Overall, respondents (especially those aged 65+) were happy with our repairs service
- 2 out of 3 had had a repair completed in the last 12 months, and of these, 72% were happy with the outcome
- There was a 50-50 split between tenants wanting to book specific days/times for repairs (mainly younger tenants) and those who wanted the repair done ASAP (mainly older tenants), reflecting their different priorities e.g. due to work or childcare commitments
- In terms of importance, tenants ranked the quality of the repair top, followed by communication about it and the punctuality of the repairs team
- More than 50% (especially over 65s) preferred to book appointments by phone, but younger tenants were more likely to book using Tenants Online
The data also revealed that we need to improve communications to tenants about ‘complex works’, e.g. following an extensive water leak, where multiple trades need to visit a property and how we can coordinate and manage this better.
The tenants' responses have been invaluable in helping us shape and improve our repairs service going forward.
Learning from tenants’ complaints
The Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code requires Broadland, as a social housing landlord, to keep tenants informed about how we act on complaints. Over the last year we have addressed the following issues around complaints:
- Improving ASB communication and setting realistic expectations We have updated our ASB policy and trained staff. We are still working to improve our ASB communications and setting realistic expectations.
- Improving communication when repairs cannot be completed to the expected timescale We have set up a project to look at ways to improve repairs scheduling (see report in this issue). The team will look at our tenants’ feedback for lessons we can learn going forward.
- Improving how we deal with ‘community complaints’ by revising our complaints policy We have updated our policy and can now quickly identify a community complaint. We are continuing to work on improving how we record and update these.
- Improving staff handling of complaints, in particular how we are responding There is still room for improvement. We have trained 4 more senior managers to respond to formal complaints, which will help us meet the timescales in the code.
- Paying compensation following a complaint We have updated the timescales within our policy. We have not received any further complaints about paying compensation.
We remind tenants that at any time during the complaints process they can contact the Housing Ombudsman.
New board members
After a successful recruitment campaign, we are delighted to welcome 3 new non-executive directors to our Board. Jo, Steve and Moreen have been co-opted to the Board and formal voting on their appointment will take place at our AGM in September.
Jo Ballman
Jo is an independent social housing consultant, specialising in governance, who has worked with over 100 registered providers in the last 4 years. Previously she was a Group Director at both Circle Housing and Flagship Housing.
Steve Dickinson
Steve is a quantity surveyor with over 30 years’ experience in the residential property development sector, specialising in commercial management. He started his own consultancy in 2020 after leaving his role as Commercial Director at the Berkeley Group.
Moreen Pascal
Moreen has worked in business support, local government, voluntary and community sectors, focusing on social justice initiatives and workforce development. Currrently she works for a national organisation that helps housing organisations address inequality, get the most from their staff and support their communities.
New procurement contracts
Where possible our procurement team work with local SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises), encouraging suppliers to support the local area through delivery of their contracts. Apprenticeships, job opportunities and training schemes are a good way for suppliers to do this. We also have a social value fund that suppliers can contribute to.
We encourage our supply chain to work sustainably, seeking suppliers who share Broadland’s focus on reducing carbon emissions and reducing the impact of their operations on the environment.
Broadland has been a Real Living Wage employer since 2016. We expect suppliers to pay the Living Wage and to uphold excellent standards in employment/working conditions and ensure that due diligence is carried out in their own supply chains.
Recent contract awards
Asset Fineline – windows and doors
Asset Fineline provides windows with 50% recycled plastic content. Broadland’s tenants were consulted on their preferences for front door designs, and this was incorporated into the tender process.
Reconomy Ltd – waste management
Reconomy will use local waste suppliers to deliver waste management services. Waste will be segregated for recycling and the contractor will report on the carbon embedded in each waste movement.