Creating homes and communities our customers are proud of
To ensure every customer feels we provide them with a good place to live, it’s vital our services and support are reliable, professional and delivered to a high standard. This needs to be coupled with wider work and longer-term programmes focused on delivering change that makes a true difference. Our investment of over £95.9m this year reflects our commitment to improving customers' lives, homes and communities - from enhancing repairs services and energy efficiency to enhancing green spaces.
"We continue to be driven by one goal: delivering safe, efficient, high‑quality homes in great neighbourhoods. That means investing in our services, working closely across teams and with partners, while putting customer insight and feedback at the centre of all our work.
From repairs to major upgrades, from climate resilience to neighbourhood improvements, we are committed to being responsive and proactive. We’ve listened more closely to our customers than ever, keeping safety and quality as our leading priorities."
- Mike Shepherd, Chief Investment Officer
Remaining focused on repairs
We’ve continued to strengthen our repairs service by focusing on what matters most to customers - faster response times, better communication and learning from feedback. This has included reducing the average time to complete non‑emergency repairs, improving digital access to services and investing significantly in maintaining existing homes.
Alongside this, we’re working to the standards set out in Awaab’s Law, with clear processes to respond quickly - ensuring homes are safe, healthy and well maintained.
A dedicated Customer Repairs Working Group is helping us better understand how things are working in practice and where we can improve.
We’ve also made some practical changes to how repairs are delivered. By making better use of data and digital tools, we can spot issues earlier and step in sooner. Using more multi skilled operatives means we can often complete more in one visit, avoiding the need to come back again. And bringing in additional contractors has enabled us to respond more easily during busier periods, particularly through the winter.
This has helped us complete more repairs on time, with 86.9% of non-emergency repairs finished within published targets. When something urgent does happen, we act quickly - 95.7% of emergency repairs are completed within 24 hours.
We know there is more to do, particularly in getting repairs done faster and fixing more issues right first time.
What we've improved at a glance
invested in existing homes
responsive repairs completed
non-emergency repairs completed within target
emergency repairs completed within 24 hours
heating replacements completed
new kitchens installed
new doors fitted
new bathrooms installed
new roofs built (blocks and houses)
homes fitted with new windows
Bringing everything together to plan ahead
Listening to our customers plays an important role in how we improve our services and shape our investment plans. Feedback, including complaints, gives us a clear view of what’s working well and where things need to be better.
This year, we’ve focused on bringing everything together: what customers tell us, the experiences they share, and what we know about the condition of our homes through home health checks. This helps us build a more complete picture of where improvements are needed and investment will have the most impact.
Having a bigger picture helps us plan ahead, so we can focus our investment where it will make the biggest difference for customers and communities.
Upper Hale, Farnham
Working closely with our customers and local partners has helped shape improvements that really matter to the community. Through roadshows and a well-attended Halloween event with Hale Community Trust, we gathered feedback on what people wanted to see change. As a result, we delivered a major landscaping project with the Farnham Biodiversity Partnership, creating a greener, more welcoming environment and a stronger sense of place.
New lighting has been installed to improve safety, and older concrete litter bins have been replaced with modern ones to give a cared-for feel. It’s all part of an ongoing conversation with customers and partners, as we continue to listen and invest in changes that make a genuine difference day to day.
Portland Terrace, Portsmouth
In Portsmouth, we invested significant resources into restoring Portland Terrace, a landmark listed building that’s part of the city’s heritage. The restoration saw external works completed, helping preserve the building’s character and architectural merit.
We also delivered practical improvements, so Portland Terrace remains safe, comfortable and sustainable for customers in future.
Environment and sustainability
Having delivered year 1 of our 2025–30 energy and sustainability strategy, it's already making a tangible difference for customers while reducing environmental impact. Through warmer homes, improved green spaces and support for biodiversity, we’re continuing to create better places to live. We remain focused on scaling up delivery each year, particularly on warm homes as energy costs stay high. Over the past 12 months, we’ve strengthened our delivery model and contracting approach, putting us in a strong position to expand the scale of our work.
Warm homes
Pushing hard to improve the fabric and insulation of our older homes is helping reduce heating costs for our customers. This year, we’ve continued to drive our warm homes programme forward, with 658 of our least energy‑efficient properties having been upgraded since 2023.
Our energy efficiency work has been accelerated by combining our own investment with funding secured last year from the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund. We've been focusing on improving the insulation and ventilation in our least energy efficient homes in North Hampshire. This means we’re already seeing fewer damp and mould problems.
A new customer engagement toolkit has been introduced, built around what customers told us matters most during retrofit work – we hope this will give our customers clarity, confidence and reassurance as improvements roll out.
Attractive places for people and nature
Our land covers over 200 hectares, including more than 6,000 trees and 30km of hedges, and we’ve reviewed it all to understand how it supports people and wildlife. Beginning to deliver real biodiversity gains, this year we have planted 29,000 bulbs, 646 trees, shrubs and hedgerow whips, creating 1,236m2 of wildflower meadow, and installing new bee posts, habitat piles and bird boxes across several estates. This work is starting to bring last year’s green spaces survey to life, strengthened by direct conversations with customers living in those communities.
