Broadland Housing Association

Homes, community & support since 1963

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    Affordable homes plan for north Norfolk wins award

    Broadland Housing Association’s affordable housing strategy in north Norfolk has won a coveted Planning Excellence Award from the RTPI (Royal Town Planning Institute).

    Broadland’s North Norfolk District Wide Affordable Housing Strategy was the regional winner in the RTPI’s virtual awards ceremony in November.

    The award recognises the ingenuity of Broadland’s strategy, which identified an opportunity from changes to national policy. Five mixed tenure schemes – in Binham, Trunch, Erpingham, Edgefield and Great Ryburgh – are linked by one Section 106 Agreement. The sale of market homes has subsidised the delivery of 61 affordable homes.

    Meeting an acute housing need

    Broadland’s award-winning strategy is helping to meet the acute shortage of affordable housing in north Norfolk. Working closely with partners at North Norfolk District Council and local parish councils, Broadland is creating vibrant, sustainable rural communities.

    Chair of the RTPI judges’ panel, David Potter, said:

    We were very impressed with this novel and very successful approach to tackling the difficult and urgent problem of providing affordable housing in rural areas. The judges concluded this careful management and collaborative working arrangement should be commended.

    Andrew Savage, Broadland’s Executive Development Director, said:

    As a local housing association, we are incredibly proud to have won this award from the RTPI. Through our strategy, people with family or employment connections in north Norfolk have been able rent or buy high quality, well designed, affordable homes in places which otherwise they would have been priced out of. We are deeply grateful for our partnership work with North Norfolk District Council without whose enthusiasm and diligence we would not have been to proceed.

    These new homes showcase mixed-tenure schemes in a community setting. We are truly proud of the communities that have been created, partly due to the holistic approach in design and planning. We want to thank our partners – Bidwell’s, Ingleton Wood, Hudson’s, Rossi Long, RG Carter, Wellington Construction and H Smith Honingham – without whose help we would not have been able to deliver these amazing new homes in rural Norfolk.

    Greg Hayman, North Norfolk District Council’s Portfolio Holder for Housing and Benefits, said:

    I congratulate the team at Broadland Housing on their award for this well deserved scheme and would like to also thank the team here at NNDC whose collaborative approach helped shape the outcome. It is vital that affordable housing should be of a quality that make the residents and community feel proud. It’s also vital that villages continue to thrive with sustainable populations.

    Mixed, inclusive rural communities

    Broadland and its architect partners Ingleton Wood and Hudson created a range of house designs designed to complement the local rural landscape. The homes have been traditionally constructed by local builders, supporting a longer life cycle, and use authentic local building materials, such as flint. 

    The quality of the scheme planning has helped to instil a strong sense of pride and community from the outset. It has also encouraged mixed, inclusive communities. There is no visible difference between the social rent and open market homes, reducing the stigma often associated with affordable housing.

    For more information on Broadland’s approach to planning and design, see https://www.broadlandgroup.org/our-design-approach/

    Broadland helps build new community sports facilities

    We have completed an exciting partnership project with Lovell, Ingleton Wood and other local companies that will provide much-needed respite accommodation at Norwich City Community Sports Foundation (CSF)’s hub ‘The Nest’.

    Watch a ‘before and after’ video of the refurbishment:

    The project involved renovating a dilapidated cottage at The Nest site in Norwich. Adults accompanying young people’s residential trips will now have somewhere to stay.

    CSF runs a range of programmes that use sport, education and the pull of Norwich City Football Club to engage with different groups in the community. The cottage project was part of its #BuildTheNest fundraising campaign to complete the second phase of development works at The Nest.

    Broadland staff used their volunteer days to do the work (and some staff members donated additional time0.

    Broadland’s Development Director, Andrew Savage, says:

    To see the enthusiasm of all the volunteers and the generous donations was inspiring. Our internal maintenance, planned works and landscape teams who were involved with the project are extremely proud of what has been achieved. It was great to be involved.

    Simon Medlar, Lovell Regional Managing Director for East Anglia, said:

    I’d like to personally thank each supplier and subcontractor involved for their hard work and commitment throughout. I’ve been blown away by the generosity of those involved, donating both materials and time, which has led to the fantastic end-result of this renovation.

    Ian Thornton, Chief Executive Officer at Norwich City Community Sports Foundation, said:

    We are incredibly grateful for the support of Lovell and all the suppliers and subcontractors that have come together to make the cottage look so fresh and new.

    It will be such an asset to the site to have these facilities for adults supporting residential visits, and we look forward to welcoming residential groups back to The Nest when conditions allow for it.

    More than 40 local companies as well as those further afield were involved in the refurbishment, which is worth over £50,000. This included remodelling the internal layout and substantial works to fix leaks, stabilise the structure, treat damp and woodworm, and remove asbestos, as well as a complete re-fit, and both internal and external redecorations. The main work was completed in late February 2020, with final touches being finished following lockdown and in accordance with Lovell’s strict COVID secure guidelines for its workplaces and construction sites.

    ‘Garden SOS’ for King’s Lynn families

    Families living at our St James Lodge housing scheme are enjoying a brand new outdoor play area and garden, thanks to a ‘Garden SOS’ style project.

    St James Lodge in King’s Lynn houses homeless families and helps them transition into permanent housing. The newly landscaped space at the scheme now has colourful play equipment, picnic tables and raised plant beds.

    The project took shape after Broadland provided £25,000 and local companies donated materials and equipment. Our skilled Estates Services team and other Broadland staff and contractors volunteered hours of their labour to make it happen.

    The garden and play area were opened by St James Lodge tenant Jenna Gould (pictured above, left) and her children. Also attending were Procurement Officer Will Hunter Rowe and Housing Manager Katie Docherty, who oversaw the project (pictured above, centre and right).

    This is so brilliant, it’s somewhere for the kids to come out and let off steam. It was tough during lockdown not having an outside space for them to play, and with more restrictions possibly to come, this will be fantastic.

    Broadland tenant, Jenna Gould

    After the delay caused by Coronavirus, it’s really rewarding to see this open. It is the fruit of many hours of volunteer labour, and a fabulous joint effort with our contractors and with local businesses which have donated materials.

    Lockdown demonstrated just how important outside space is for people’s wellbeing, so this couldn’t have come at a better time.

    Will Hunter Rowe, Procurement Officer

    St James Lodge consists of 20 flats and studios, and is designed to provide short- and medium-term accommodation for homeless people and homeless families with support needs, all of whom must have a local connection.

    Local businesses which contributed to the project were:

    • Ben Burgess
    • Campbell Tickell
    • CJ Yardley
    • CLC Contractors
    • Efficiency East Midlands
    • Johnstone’s Trade Paints
    • Kevin Cogman
    • Newline Anglia
    • PTS Plumbing Trade Supplies
    • Reconomy
    • Rexel
    • Travis Perkins
    Broadland’s Procurement team helped to deliver the St James Lodge project

    Broadland’s ‘finest hour’ – AGM 2020 report

    Broadland held its first ‘virtual AGM’ in September. Board members and association members came together in a socially-distanced meeting, with an exclusive video link as an additional option for participants.

    Michael Newey, our Chief Executive, described how the previous 6 months had been Broadland’s ‘finest hour’. He outlined how we have supported vulnerable tenants during the Coronavirus pandemic, implemented a huge sanitisation programme, and worked closely with local partners to provide safe places for homelessness people during the lockdown.

    • Broadland Housing AGM 2020
    • Michael Newey, Broadland Housing Chief Executive

    Building more affordable homes

    Despite the pandemic, Broadland also delivered 288 new homes during 2019-20 including 171 for rental and a further 38 for shared ownership.  We allocated 527 new homes during the year, of which 82 were let to homeless people, and a further 122 to older people.

    Supporting tenants

    Michael praised Broadland employees for their team spirit:

    Our staff had to adapt quickly to a new way of working, and responded magnificently. Because of this, we were able to put in place support for our tenants really quickly.

    As lockdown started, we phone more than 1,000 of our most vulnerable tenants, to make sure they were alright, and to offer any assistance they might need.  As a result, 450 of those received ongoing help, from deliveries of food and prescriptions, to regular telephone calls to provide a friendly voice to those facing lockdown on their own.

    The way we responded to lockdown and Covid has been our finest hour as an organisation.  But we are still working through how we deal with the new normal.

    Michael Newey, Chief Executive, Broadland Housing Association

    Addressing homelessness in the region

    Broadland also played a key part in the ‘Everybody In’ campaign to ensure all homeless people had a safe place to stay during lockdown. We are working in partnership to provide permanent accommodation for homeless people.  The scheme has already secured permission for 23 new homes in King’s Lynn and West Norfolk and 13 in Norwich, and is well on the way to securing 36 more in Great Yarmouth.

    ‘A strong year’

    Reflecting on the year, Michael was upbeat about Broadland’s performance:

    On pretty much every metric, we have had a strong year.  We have accelerated our development programme; we carried out over 20,000 repairs including new bathrooms, kitchens, windows and heating systems; We installed solar PV panels on 55 of our homes; and we carried out adaptations in 38 properties to enable residents to stay living in their own homes.

    In addition, our Tenancy Support team worked with nearly 350 tenants, underlining our commitment not just to provide quality affordable homes, but to help people access the support they may need to maintain their tenancy.

    Michael said that it was difficult to predict what the immediate future would bring – but that Broadland Housing would remain committed to its core aims:

    For the last 25 years, everybody has been talking about having a ‘2020 Vision’ – and yet none of us could have foreseen what this year would bring. 

    We have proven that we are equal to the challenges which have been thrown at us, and we will stay focussed on our core aims of providing quality affordable homes, supporting our tenants to live in those homes, tackling homelessness, and building as many new homes as possible.

    Download a copy of our 2019-20 Annual Report

    Free IAP launched for Broadland tenants

    Broadland is delighted to announce the launch an Individual Assistance Programme (IAP) for tenants and their immediate family members.

    The IAP is a free, independent service providing Broadland tenants with 24-hour access to professional and confidential telephone counselling, advice and support. 

    The new service will run initially from 1 October 2020 for 12 months. It is being operated by our partner Health Assured, providers of our Employee Assistance Programme.

    We are really excited about this new service, which complements our existing free Tenancy Support service so well. We believe there is a strong need among our tenants for this kind of confidential, professional support, particularly with the continuing impact of the pandemic.  The IAP offers a fantastic resource to help people cope with the issues in their lives.   

    Kevin Gee, Tenancy Support Manager

    Broadland already offers tenants a comprehensive range of free support services, including help to:

    • manage their tenancy, look after their home and cover their rent 
    • claim the right benefits 
    • budget, save money and get a better energy deal 
    • move house and set up your home 
    • access training and employment 
    • use a computer
    • look after their health and wellbeing 
    Broadland health and wellbeing logo
    Accessibility by WAH