News

 

Family, friends and Broadland colleagues recently gathered to remember 2 longstanding tenant Board members. Special tree-planting ceremonies were held for Richard Hawthorn at Woodcote and for Mavis Wesley at The Cedars.

Friend and Woodcote resident Richard Headicar (pictured above) said of his friend Richard Hawthorn:

“Richard represented tenants on the board, he spoke up for them. He believed there was always a best way forward and would seek reconciliation to solve problems. It took effort to get to know Richard, but he was a worthwhile friend to make and was a constant delight. There was nothing a glass of wine couldn’t solve. He was a charming and loyal friend and sought the very best in human beings.”

Molly Robb (centre, above), who served with Mavis as a tenant Board member and later with her on the tenants’ forum said:

“Mavis had a great career as a jazz singer and performed at Ronnie Scott’s club. She also organised a day of jazz every year on the river. Even when she was older and became more disabled, she travelled to London to a committee of her musical contemporaries. Mavis was proud to represent Broadland tenants. She was a lovely lady and a good friend.” 

 

Broadland has pledged to Make a Stand against domestic abuse in a new housing association campaign.

Domestic abuse is one of the biggest issues we face in society today and 2 women are killed every week in the UK by their partner or ex-partner.

Make a Stand is a new partnership between the Chartered Institute of Housing, the Domestic Abusing Housing Alliance (DAHA) and Women’s Aid that will make a huge difference for people experiencing domestic abuse across the UK.

Housing providers are in a unique position to identify and respond to domestic abuse in their communities. Through publicity and campaigns they can raise awareness of the issue to ensure communities show zero tolerance to perpetrators of domestic abuse and support and help the people that need it.

We’ll be sharing more details of our pledge commitments shortly. Watch this space.

 

 

Volunteers from Broadland, Aecom and Smiths of Honingham recently spent a day planting out the new communal garden at York Place, Dereham.

The garden was created along with 6 new flats and 2 bungalows for over-55s when the scheme was recently extended.

Last year residents helped to design the garden, requesting waist-high vegetable trugs for easy access, plenty of shade and places to sit, and wildlife-friendly flowers.

The volunteers swung into action and the results got a positive response all round:

“People are so pleased to have a nice outdoor space where they can sit and chat!”

“It was really rewarding to see how much the residents appreciated their new gardens”

Broadland has signed a two-year contract with award-winning waste management company Viridor. The new contract, starting today [26 March 2018] will encourage staff to segregate and recycle as much material as possible. Non-recyclable (residual) waste will go to Viridor’s energy recovery facilities at Ardley in Oxfordshire and Peterborough to create renewable energy.

Previously Broadland had multiple waste management contracts. The decision to move to a single contract with Viridor was based on Viridor’s holistic zero-to-landfill approach. Viridor will help us work more efficiently in our waste management, ensure we are fully compliant with waste regulations, including reporting of our waste statistics, and support our SHIFT goals.

Barry Ashby, Group Procurement Manager, said:

“We’re keen to raise awareness within our own organisation about maximising our recycling opportunities, and take the waste that remains and give it a green purpose – low-carbon electricity.

“The tender process incorporated the requirements of Broadland’s Environmental Strategy. Our operatives were consulted and our Digital Team created a questionnaire on Text Local so staff could comment via their mobile phones. This information helped to shape the tender specification. The tender was carried out on our E-Tendering System Delta E-Sourcing. Bids were evaluated on cost and quality criteria, and the three highest-scoring tenderers were invited to make presentations. The decision to accept Viridor’s tender was unanimous.”

Victoria Waterhouse, Viridor’s Commercial Manager (East and Central), said:

“It’s inspiring to work with a customer who is so driven to make sustainable changes. The key to these changes is education and Viridor will fully support this requirement by hosting educational visits to our state-of-the-art facilities and waste awareness days. By providing a dedicated and experienced account manager the group will truly become a waste partner.”

Viridor sent enough energy to the national grid last year to power 380,000 homes – the equivalent of a city the size of Leeds.

Viridor has won a series of national and international awards, including the National Recycling Award for Local Authority Innovation; Best Private Sector Initiative at the Scottish Resources Awards; CIWM Award for the Best Run UK Waste Management Facility; the Industry Award for Excellence for Design of a Recycling or Waste Management Facility and the CIWM Resource Learning & Development Award for Education.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Broadland has completed a £50m new long-term debt facility with BAE Systems Pension Funds. This exciting development with a forward-thinking fund will support our plans to build more than 600 new affordable homes for rent and low-cost ownership over the next 4 years.

The debt financing facility will run for 35 years at a 3.64% interest rate.

Initially, Broadland will draw down £20m, with a further £30m to be drawn in 2019.

Julian Foster, Executive Finance Director at Broadland, explains:

“BAE understood our business needs and the deferred element of the deal gives us welcome certainty on future interest costs and future funding. We’re looking forward to delivering much-needed new affordable housing across a range of developments in Norfolk over the next few years.”

Jon-Paul Phillips, Portfolio Manager at BAE Systems Pension Funds, added:

“We’re delighted to be entering into a long-term relationship with Broadland through this funding transaction. On visiting the organisation, when completing our due diligence, we were very impressed with the work the association is doing. It’s an excellent organisation and we expect Broadland to play an ongoing important role in housing provision in the region.”

The funding transaction represents Broadland’s first venture to the capital markets. It complements Broadland’s existing long-term financing of £138m with various banking institutions.

Broadland currently owns and manages 5,000 affordable homes in 12 local authority areas in Norfolk and Suffolk.

For more details about the transaction, please Paula Strachan, Corporate Communications Manager, tel: 01603 750283