Broadland Housing Group

Homes, community & support since 1963

social housing

Webster Court flats ‘built’ in 3 days!

  • Webster Court apartment being craned into position in Norwich
  • Webster Court, Norwich, on Day 3 of construction
  • Webster Court, Norwich, on Day 3 of construction

New apartments for people experiencing homelessness in Norwich have been ‘built’ in 3 days at Webster Court.

The modular apartments were craned into place on site in November, with each storey being ‘built’ in just one day! Watch the timelapse video. The flats were lowered into position with windows, heating systems, kitchens and bathrooms already fitted.

The new apartment block, on a disused car park next to a housing with care scheme run by St Martin’s Housing Trust, will provide desperately-needed homes for people who are homeless in Norwich.

Tenancies of 6-24 months will be available, and tenants will be supported to find a long-term solution to their homelessness. The first residents are due to move in before Christmas.

It’s identified in our Rough Sleeping Strategy that we are in desperate need of homes for people who might be homeless, or who are on the verge of being homeless. It’s so wonderful to see these homes that have grown almost overnight.  What a start for someone who could have their lives changed, and with the proper support, will be able to progress through life in a far better place.

Councillor Gail Harris, Cabinet Member for Social Housing, Norwich City Council

We chose a modular construction route because of speed.  We are looking at a very tight site here, so we needed a solution that would minimise disruption and have just three days of actual construction. The fundamental issue we have in the UK, and in Norwich, is that we do not have enough housing.  That is why we have a problem, that is why we have street homelessness, that is why so many vulnerable groups are struggling to find the right accommodation.  That is why it’s so important to be delivering housing.

Andrew Savage, Executive Development Director, Broadland Housing Association

The new block has been delivered in partnership with Norwich City Council, who gifted the land. The Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities and Homes England supported the construction with funding. Other partners in the project include tenancy support providers St Martin’s Housing Trust and The Magdalene Group; modular supplier modular supplier Modpods International; technical consultants Ingleton Wood, Aecom and Rossi Long; and Munnings Construction.

We are also grateful to Moving Forward-Norfolk (MF-N). Rob Begley, Founder Member, cleaned the 6 flats ready for the tenants to move in, free of charge. MF-N is a not-for-profit organisation set up in April 2021 to tackle the problems caused by hoarding and self-neglect.

New alliance aims to improve services for tenants

CEOs of Norfolk and Suffolk social housing providers in Independent East
Top row: Michael Newey (Broadland), Andrew Smith (Havebury)
Front row: Anita Jones (Freebridge), James Francis (Saffron), Wendy Evans-Hendrick (Orwell)
Logos of 5 local housing associations in Independent East

Broadland Housing has joined 4 other social housing providers in Norfolk and Suffolk to form a new informal alliance, Independent East.

Broadland has agreed to share knowledge, experience and good practice with partners Freebridge Community Housing, Havebury Housing Partnership, Orwell Housing and Saffron Housing Trust.

The aim is to support each other in delivering better services to our tenants and local communities. The new alliance will also create a collective lobbying voice for social housing in the region.

Independent East describes itself as:

…made up of independently minded, and individually sustainable, housing associations with similar and complementary values and business objectives based in Norfolk and Suffolk, which are willing to share knowledge and experience; to support each other in the delivery of our individual corporate strategies; and to explore opportunities to work better together.

Independent East manifesto

The 5 organisations will create senior management forums to explore the potential for common approaches. However, each housing association will continue to operate independently of the others.

We are very much looking forward to collaborating with our Independent East Partners over the coming months and years.

We will be working together on new projects, sharing ideas and best practices, and supporting each other to have the biggest possible impact on the communities we serve while driving innovation and change within the housing industry.

This ambitious partnership fits well with our long-term customer-focused objectives, and we are proud to be a part of it.”

Wendy Evans-Hendrick, CEO, Orwell Housing Association

Gold award for sustainability

SHIFT Gold status - Broadland Housing Association, November 2021

Broadland Housing has maintained GOLD status in the Sustainable Homes Index for Tomorrow (SHIFT) Awards 2021.

We are delighted to receive SHIFT gold accreditation once again, especially considering the challenges we have all faced due to Covid-19. Being sustainable runs through everything we do and we continually review our practices and processes to ensure they are as environmentally-friendly as possible, in addition to considering how we can also reduce our carbon footprint. This latest award reflects the hard work of our teams throughout the organisation on the journey to #NetZero.”

Louise Archer, Executive Asset Director

Broadland was first accredited with the SHIFT Gold standard in 2016, after progressing from highly commended in the first year of taking part, through Bronze and Silver SHIFT awards. We have maintained this standard ever since, and we were the highest scoring social landlord in 2016, 2018 and 2020.

What is SHIFT?

SHIFT is an independent audit system that assesses the environmental impacts of a landlord’s housing stock across 21 criteria. It is the recognised sustainability standard for the social housing sector.

Celebrating 20 years: the real Living Wage

Broadland Housing Chief Executive Michael Newey has encouraged all businesses and organisations to consider paying the real Living Wage. Speaking at the Living Wage Foundation‘s 2021 event in Norwich, he said:

The real Living Wage is part of our wider strategy to deliver high levels of staff engagement and as a result deliver a high level of commitment to our tenants and to the organisation. We are a ‘people’ business.  We provide people with homes, and our people provide our tenants with the services they require.  The quality of our employees is vital to our success. Treating people fairly and with respect is key to our culture and drives that engagement.   

Paying our employees a real Living Wage is all about us respecting our staff, ensuring that they are paid properly for the jobs they are doing. It reduces the chances that they will need to turn to benefits to look after their families, and struggle to make ends meet. 

Paying people a wage that allows them to have a reasonable standard of living shouldn’t be an optional extra for organisations whether in the public, private or third sector.   

If you can’t afford to pay people properly for the job that they do for you – if you need to ask them to apply for in-work benefits because you can’t afford to pay them a real Living Wage, then I believe that trustees, directors, executive teams and shareholders need to ask themselves some difficult questions about their business model.

Michael Newey, Chief Executive, Broadland Housing Association

Broadland Housing was first accredited as a Living Wage Employer in 2016. There are more than 300,000 people working for almost 9,000 real Living Wage Employers throughout the country.

What is the real Living Wage?

The real Living Wage rates are rising to £9.90 across the UK (40p increase), and £11.05 in London (20p increase), supporting workers and families. The Living Wage rates are the only rates independently calculated based on what people need to live on. 

Unlike the Government minimum wage (‘National Living Wage’ for over 23s – £8.91 rising to £9.50 in April 2022) the real Living Wage is the only wage rate independently calculated based on rising living costs – including fuel, energy, rent and food. A full-time worker earning the new, real Living Wage would earn £1,930 a year more than a worker earning the current government minimum (NLW). For a worker today that’s the equivalent of 7 months of food bills and more than 5 months’ rent based on average household spending in the UK.

Exciting new developments for the Living Wage campaign

Organised by Aviva plc, Norwich City Council and Future Radio, the Living Wage Week event in Norwich celebrated the historic achievements of the campaign, and the benefits for both employees and employers. There were presentations by Phoenix Events, Future Radio, Aviva and Allan Waters, Leader of the city council. There was also a look ahead to new developments – Living Hours, a Living Pension and Norwich’s plans to become a Real Living Wage City.

  

East of England Social Housing Regulator Meeting, October 2021

  • Kate Dodsworth at Regulator for Social Housing meeting at Broadland Housing Association, October 2021
  • Tenant at Regulator for Social Housing meeting at Broadland Housing Association, October 2021
  • Michael Newey at Regulator for Social Housing meeting at Broadland Housing Association, October 2021
  • Tenants at Regulator for Social Housing meeting at Broadland Housing Association, October 2021
  • Tenants' concerns at Regulator for Social Housing meeting at Broadland Housing Association, October 2021
  • Tenant at Regulator for Social Housing meeting at Broadland Housing Association, October 2021
(Top left) Kate Dodsworth, Director of Consumer Regulation, RSH, addressing tenants;
(top right) Michael Newey, Chief Executive of Broadland Housing Association;
(above) tenants participating in workshop sessions

Kate Dodsworth, Director of Consumer Regulation at the Housing Regulator, met tenants from 7 social housing providers across the eastern region at a meeting hosted by Broadland Housing in October.

The aim was to get tenants’ feedback on what is important to them and how well their landlord listens to their issues and concerns.

The meeting, organised jointly by Placeshapers and the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH), was an exciting opportunity for tenants to give their views directly to the Regulator.

Social Housing White Paper

Last year, the Government published its Social Housing White Paper. This requires RSH to change the way it carries out consumer regulation in social housing and to create a new consumer function. RSH wants to hear from social housing tenants over the next few years on a range of topics relating to this, to better understand what matters to them. This will help RSH shape how the new consumer function should work in practice.

The session at Carrow Road, Norwich, covered how regulation in the social housing sector works at the moment and the changes the White Paper is introducing, and the opportunities coming up to engage further with RSH.

Positive feedback from tenants

The day started with a joint meeting between members of Independent East (a partnership between Broadland Housing, Freebridge, Havebury, Saffron and Orwell Housing). Tenants from the housing associations learned how they could influence positive change with their landlords, share best practice and discuss the issues they face.  There were also opportunities for tenants to share their thoughts with RSH directly during workshop sessions. 

The feedback from the meeting was very positive: 93% of tenants who attended said they would like to see a new forum set up. The most popular topics for further discussion are: reviewing service standards, reviewing complaints together and training.

Tenants were also interested in attending other ad hoc workshops and seminars. This is an exciting development in the sector and we will be posting more news and developments as they happen.

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