Creating pride in homes and communities
We recognise that for our customers to feel proud of where they live, their homes need to be in good working order, safe and warm, with surrounding neighbourhoods they can enjoy. Maintaining and repairing homes is crucial because it directly impacts our customers' quality of life and their sense of security and comfort.
Customers tell us that our repairs service is the most important to them, and we're pleased to have made significant improvements. We recognise there is more we can do and we will be working closely with our customers to continue to improve our offer and its consistency and reliability.
In the last year, we’ve spent the most we ever have across repairs and maintenance, major works, building safety, and sustainability, with our total investment in customers’ homes of £100.2m. This investment not only ensures that homes are well-maintained and safe but also supports the broader goals of providing affordable, sustainable and high-quality living environments.
"We're committed to making sure our customers feel a sense of pride and belonging in their homes and neighbourhoods. Our focus on repairs, energy efficiency and sustainability ensures lasting positive change for our communities. These efforts align with broader goals in the UK housing sector, which faces challenges such as affordability, regulatory changes, and the need for sustainable development. By addressing these issues, we contribute to creating resilient, inclusive, and thriving communities across the south of England."
- Mark Churcher, Head of Building Compliance
Completing repairs more quickly
We know the most vital service for our customers day in, day out is repairs, which is why this has been a leading focus area in the last 12 months.
At the beginning of the year, we were aiming to complete all repairs within 28 days. By investing in the capacity and capability of our trades teams, coupled with improving our repairs management approach, we’ve been able to see more repair jobs completed each and every day. This means that non-emergency repairs are now being completed in 18 days on average. Our continued drive to improve our repairs service as part of providing a better customer experience means we’re now heading towards all non-emergency repairs being completed within 14 days.
We’ve also performed well with the completion of emergency repairs over the last year - 97% of these repairs were completed within 24 hours.
In the coming year, and as part of the continued transformation of our repairs service, our trade teams will have the ability to log new repairs directly ‘on the spot’ from each customer's home. This will improve the speed and efficiency of the repairs process for our customers, avoiding delays in new requests being logged and reviewed.
Thriving neighbourhoods
We know that for our customers, part of helping them feel safe and comfortable in and around their own homes is about seeing their neighbourhoods supported and cared for.
As a result, we’ve committed significant time, attention and resources this last year into our estates to kick-start and deliver a range of estate improvement projects.
This includes completion of individual projects through to initiating longer-term programmes whilst gaining input from the local community to help shape plans for their neighbourhood.
In Eastleigh, we fully refurbished three housing schemes for older people. This included redecorating the interiors and enhancing the communal gardens with new pathways to make them more accessible.
At the Toplady estate in Farnham, we listened to our customers before making improvements in line with our new customer influence approach. From receiving a referral from customers around the need for improvements, we completed a local survey to understand broader views. As part of the survey, customers were given the opportunity to provide feedback on several new play park options. With the final design informed by customers’ views, work took place to see the new play park developed and delivered.
What we've improved at a glance
invested in existing homes
responsive repairs completed
on average to complete non-emergency repairs
emergency repairs completed within 24 hours
heating replacements completed
new kitchens installed
new doors fitted
new bathrooms installed
new roofs built
new windows fitted
Acquisition of affordable homes
We acquired 408 properties from L&Q in December 2024 of which 371 are homes. Our priority has been to ensure new customers feel welcomed, supported and guided on all aspects of VIVID and their home. This strategic acquisition enhances our capacity to provide quality, affordable housing to families and individuals, allowing us to focus more intensely on meeting their needs. The newly acquired properties, located mainly in Basingstoke with some in Test Valley and Berkshire, align with our ambition to address the growing demand for affordable housing and to support the communities we serve.
Environment and sustainability
We’ve created a new energy and sustainability strategy this year to boost our activity over the next five years. This will place sustainability firmly across all our operations.
Climate change is increasingly affecting the UK and the world, with more frequent floods and heatwaves. We need to ensure our customers' homes are prepared for these changes.
This year we’ve screened our homes to understand which are in locations that will expose them to future climate change risks. This gives a good starting point to understand which homes are most likely to be affected and to develop a plan of action.
Energy costs are a big challenge for many, so improving home energy efficiency is one of the most impactful steps we can take to help customers with living costs while reducing our carbon footprint. In the last 12 months we’ve delivered improvements to 321 of our customers’ homes. We’ve also secured £14.35m from the Government’s Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund which, together with the £32.6m we’re investing, will accelerate our work. As a result, we’re aiming to improve the energy efficiency of 1,800 homes in north Hampshire next year.
To become a net zero carbon business, we also need to reduce emissions from our supply chain. For the first time this year, we’ve started to understand our supply chain’s carbon emissions and are working with our suppliers to address them. We’ve also made good progress with developing our approach to place-based energy efficiency improvement, working with our local council partners.
Investing in our natural environment is important for customer wellbeing and our planet. Over the last year, we’ve reviewed all our estates to understand existing biodiversity levels. This will allow us to set new goals to improve these in future. We’ve already made a positive start as shown by our project with customers at Tara Court in Hampshire. With the support of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, several sessions were co-ordinated with customers to plant new raised beds and install a small pond, as well as see new wildlife homes built and installed.
Our sustainability work is also driven by the fact that we want to achieve real and lasting change for our customers as well as the wider world, and we know we’re not the only organisation on this journey. As a result, we’ve continued to share our experience by speaking at conferences, taking an active part in forums and contributing to networks to help others. Equally, we’ve gained a lot from our peers, hearing new ideas and approaches, so we can make sure we achieve our targets as quickly and efficiently as possible.
