Ambition 2: People are proud to live in our homes and communities
We want to make sure that our customers feel a sense of pride in their home and community. We’re investing more than ever in our homes and estates so that they continue to meet quality and safety standards, to improve energy efficiency and minimise energy costs. Everyone wants a safe, healthy and affordable place to live, and our investment is targeted at making sure our homes are the best they can be now and in the future.
"In the last year we've invested £87.5m in the safety, quality and sustainability of homes to make them more affordable and comfortable for customers. We’re in what is known as the ‘decisive decade’ for climate action and we ramped up our programme this year by delivering an ambitious retrofit project in Farnborough. From 2023-25 we’re improving the energy efficiency of over 400 homes by installing external wall insulation, loft insulation and ventilation improving warmth and reducing fuel poverty."
- Tom Robinson, Executive Director of Assets and Sustainability
Good quality, safe and affordable homes
We’ve invested £87.5m in maintaining and improving our customers’ homes over the past year. This includes repairs, compliance, our major works programme to replace kitchens and bathrooms for example, building safety works and sustainability.
invested in existing homes
responsive repairs completed
compliance with all statutory safety requirements
emergency responsive repairs completed within target
heating replacements completed
new kitchens installed
new doors fitted
new bathrooms installed
new roofs built
new windows fitted
Customer perception of us is highly influenced by the quality of their home and the speed and experience they have when receiving a service from us, especially when it comes to carrying out repairs.
Our aim is to complete all non-emergency repairs within 28 days and, if we can’t complete a repair within that time frame because we’re waiting for parts or materials, we’ll be clear and communicate what’s happening.
Throughout the year we’ve brought in additional trade staff and contractors, and offered customers weekend appointments to help address the volume of repairs. Progress is being made and, in parallel to this, we’re transforming our processes and technology to enable us to complete a repair on first visit as often as possible by ensuring we get the right trades to the right repair job with the right materials.
We have been piloting a new virtual repairs appointment service, to help diagnose and identify parts on a video call so we can complete more repairs on our first visit.
Along with all housing associations, we’re firmly committed to implementing Awaab’s Law to deliver the best outcomes for customers. Through transformation of our repairs service we’re ensuring that we’re ready to adopt this new legislation thereby enabling the best outcomes for customers.
Sustainable homes
Achieving net zero
We’re in what is known as the ‘decisive decade’ for climate action and we ramped up our programme this year by delivering an ambitious retrofit project in Farnborough. From 2023-25 we’re improving the energy efficiency of over 400 homes by installing external wall insulation, loft insulation and ventilation. This will help to improve warmth, address fuel poverty and reduce carbon emissions by 280 tonnes a year.
We want all our homes to provide sustainable living conditions for our customers which means having an energy efficient home – one that reduces unnecessary energy consumption and cost, as well as cuts carbon emissions. Over the past year we’ve retrofitted 137 homes. In 2024-25 we’ll improve a further 550 homes. Over 80% of our homes have an energy efficiency rating of EPC C or above and we’re aiming to be at 100% by 2030.
Over the year we significantly increased our preparations for achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050. This included improving our data, measuring our carbon footprint and developing a fully costed net zero investment plan.
Green spaces and biodiversity
We’ve made good progress understanding the opportunities we have to improve the biodiversity of our land.
We know that as well as being important for wildlife, green spaces play a part in improving mental and physical wellbeing. They also have an important role to play in helping our estates to adapt to a changing climate. For these reasons we want to improve our green spaces.
Our work on this started during the year with customer engagement to understand how existing spaces are perceived and used. We involved customers through community engagement events and a survey which had over 500 responses. This has given us excellent insight into how our customers use their spaces, their aspirations, concerns and what changes, if any they would like to see. This feedback will help to inform our improvement plan.
Improvements got underway for example with new trees and hedges at the Ash Estate in Aldershot. We chose a variety of native species like holly and hawthorn, which also provided a variety of habitats and food for birds and insects.
Energy and utilities
As energy costs increase and heat network regulation is brought in, we’ve renewed our focus on communal energy management. For example, by improving management of heat networks, we’ll improve the efficiency of these systems and reduce heating costs for our customers. This will also reduce our carbon emissions.
This year we secured over £39,000 funding from the Heat Network Efficiency Scheme (HNES) which will help us to identify decarbonisation opportunities for these schemes. During 2024-25 we’ll identify and plan investment opportunities to be delivered the following year.