Broadland Housing Association

Homes, community & support since 1963

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    Work underway on 5 homes in Thetford for former rough sleepers

    Work underway on 5 homes in Thetford for former rough sleepers

    Start of building work on 5 new affordable homes for former rough sleepers in Thetford, part of a joint initiative between Breckland Council and Broadland Housing Associatoin
    Michael Newey (right) Executive of Broadland Housing Association with Councillor from Breckland Council at start of work on site at Elm Road, Thetford, on 5 homes for former rough sleepters
    Ceremony to mark start of building work at Elm Road, Thetford; (right) Councillor Gordon Bambridge of Breckland Council and Broadland Housing Chief Executive Michael Newey

    Building work on 5 new affordable homes in Thetford for former rough sleepers is now underway.

    We are delighted to be working on this project with Breckland Council, which has gifted the land – a former school car park on Elm Road, Thetford.  Grant funding has come from Homes England via the Rough Sleeper Accommodation Programme.

    The 5 x 1-bedroom homes (4 houses and 1 bungalow) have a timber frame design for speed of construction and to ensure low embodied carbon.  Our partners, local firm H Smith of Honingham, are building the new homes, which will be energy-efficient, with air source heat pumps.

    Access Community Trust will support the tenants with housing management and tenancy support services.

    Councillor Chapman-Allen, the Leader of Breckland Council, and Councillor Gordon Bambridge, Executive Member for Housing & Homelessness at Breckland Council, joined our Chief Executive Michael Newey, at a ceremony to mark the start of work on the joint initiative.

    I am delighted to see building work starting on this new partnership project within Breckland, aimed at supporting former homeless residents who need support to get back into long term accommodation.  These new low-embodied-carbon buildings will complement the fantastic work already taking place at Elm House in Thetford, which is supporting local people in need of emergency accommodation.”

    Councillor Gordon Bambridge, Executive Member for Housing & Homelessness, Breckland Council

    This project is a great example of what can be achieved when organisations such as Breckland Council and Broadland Housing work together in partnership to tackle the problem of homelessness.

    These much-needed energy-efficient homes will be built to the high quality standards we have for all our homes.  By bringing back into use a piece of surplus land, we can ensure that more people leave the streets and can have a home to call their own.

    Michael Newey, Chief Executive, Broadland Housing Association

    The 5 new homes will be completed in early 2023.

    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

    Celebration at Canary Quay honours social housing champions

    Broadland Housing has celebrated naming apartment blocks at Canary Quay, Norwich, after Baroness Patricia Hollis and Richard Hawthorn, both passionate supporters of social housing.

    • Naming ceremony, Patricia Hollis House and Richard Hawthorn House, Canary Quay, Norwich
    • Naming ceremony for Patricia Hollis House and Richard Hawthorne House, Canary Quay, Norwich
    • Tenants at Canary Quay, naming ceremony for Patricia Hollis House and Richard Hawthorn House, Norwich
    • Naming ceremony for Patricia Hollis House and Richard Hawthorne House, Canary Quay, Norwich
    • Naming ceremony for Patricia Hollis House and Richard Hawthorne House, Canary Quay, Norwich

    Speakers Lord Alan Howarth and MP Clive Lewis joined Canary Quay tenants at the naming ceremony, which was held on the site at Geoffrey Watling Way, Norwich. The development of over 300 new homes on the riverside is a partnership between Broadland Housing and R G Carter.

    ‘Somewhere to call home’

    Baroness Hollis, who died in 2018, was chair of Broadland Housing Association from 2009 until 2015, at the time when the vision for Canary Quay was created.  Richard Hawthorn was a tenant Board member of the housing association from 2010 until his death in 2017.

    Welcoming guests to the celebration, Broadland Housing Association Chief Executive Michael Newey said the occasion was bittersweet. 

    Patricia and Richard were amazing as Board members. They both played a significant part in making this development reality.  It’s fitting that their names adorn the first two blocks which have been completed here, because above all both of them felt it was very important that people have somewhere to call home.

    Michael Newey, Chief Executive, Broadland Housing Associatoin

    Lord Howarth (pictured above, centre), who was Baroness Hollis’ partner, said:

    Patricia was not about public recognition, but she would have been very proud to have her name associated with a social housing project in Norwich.  She would have been thrilled at the fulfilment of this project.

    She was very happy to be invited to chair Broadland Housing Association. She loved working with them, and was very proud of what they achieved.

    Patricia was also very fond of Richard Hawthorn, a fellow trustee and a great advocate for the interests of Broadland’s tenants.

    Lord Alan Howarth

    ‘Community is all about people’

    Norwich South MP Clive Lewis said that the new development was a community space which would enable the community to flourish.

    Ultimately community is about people. It’s about buildings, it’s about infrastructure, it’s about talking, and Patricia was very good at all of those things. She was a community builder.

    When people look at the name Patricia Hollis on this building in years to come, all they need to know is that she helped to build that building, and that she helped to build a community not just here, but across the city, and in many people’s hearts.

    Clive Lewis MP (Norwich South)

    Richard Hawthorn’s son Marcus sent a message from Canada which was read out at the ceremony. 

    My father could not have wished for a greater accolade than to have his name associated with a cause that is supporting people, and that it should be so close to Carrow Road and his beloved Canaries.

    Marcus Hawthorn
    Read biographies of Baroness Patricia Hollis and Richard HawthornDownload

    Canary Quay has been built on land formerly owned by Norwich City Football Club.  The development is a mixture of social housing, affordable homes and open market properties.

    AGM 2021 – Broadland Housing focused on ‘enduring purpose’ of providing good quality, affordable homes

    AGM 2021 – Broadland Housing focused on ‘enduring purpose’ of providing good quality, affordable homes

    Broadland Housing held its Annual General Meeting in September. Michael Newey, Chief Executive (pictured), said that the key challenges in 2020-21 had been to keep people safe, keep homes decent and meet tenants’ expectations. He described how Broadland had ‘gone the extra mile’ to meet these challenges.

    Michael Newey, Chief Executive of Broadland Housing Association, addresses the 2021 AGM

    Providing new homes

    Despite the pandemic, during 2020-21 Broadland Housing delivered:

    • a total of 147 new homes (against a target of 72), of which
    • 92 were affordable rent
    • 33 were for shared ownership

    During the year Broadland also allocated:

    • a total of 348 homes, of which
    • 117 were to homeless households
    • 111 to older people.

    Keeping tenants safe

    The pandemic has been the most significant event of my life, and the same is true for most of us. Life has changed, and we have all faced significant challenges.  I am really proud of how we transitioned almost overnight to meet those challenges and continue to meet our objectives.

    Our ambitions remain the same, but the world has changed. We have had to adapt the way we do things.  Our number one priority has been keeping people safe, and that has sometimes meant that we haven’t been able to do everything that we wanted to do. 

    Supporting people has never been more important, whether through befriending calls with people who have been isolated in their homes, or dealing with urgent issues such as emergency repairs.”

    Michael Newey, Chief Executive

    Working towards net carbon zero

    As Broadland emerges from the pandemic, it faces the continuing challenges of responding to climate change and tackling homelessness, and a renewed focus on local delivery all priorities, along with continuing to provide more new homes.

    Climate change will in the long term be a bigger issue than Covid. The issue is how we can deliver the 2050 net carbon zero target without pushing people into fuel poverty? One piece of research has estimated that meeting that target will cost an average of nearly £21,000 per affordable home, so the financial impact is enormous.

    Tackling homelessness has been a long-term priority for us.  The pandemic inspired a renewed sense of joined-up thinking and partnership working, and we have played a role in both the Norfolk Strategic Housing Partnership and the Norfolk Homelessness Forum.  We have also worked with King’s Lynn, Norwich and Great Yarmouth to provide ‘housing first’ accommodation, move-on accommodation and homes for prison leavers.

    Michael Newey, Chief Executive

    First hybrid AGM

    Thanking tenants, staff and stakeholders for their support over the year, Michael Newey said:

    There is no doubt that the pandemic will continue to have a substantial impact on our operations during the coming year. However, our commitment to delivering our enduring purpose, namely helping people who cannot afford decent places to live in the open market access good quality affordable homes, remains as strong as ever.

    The AGM was Broadland’s first hybrid meeting. To observe Covid-19 safety guidance, a limited number of people attended in person, while the remainder joined virtually.

    Download a copy of the 2020-21 Annual Report.

    Thanks, Good Neighbours!

    Congratulations to all our tenants and their neighbours who won a Good Neighbour Award recently. We’d like to say a big thank you for helping those around you through the challenges of the recent months!

    The April winners included:

    • Elizabeth and Stephen “for helping their neighbours throughout the lockdown” (from Tamara)
    • Jill “for consistently checking in with her neighbours, leaving little gifts and thoughtful texts. Most importantly, her support is kind and non-intrusive” (from Liz)
    • Janine and Kay “for being so welcoming when I first moved in. Looking after my dog while I was at work. Lending bits and pieces and being there when I needed a chat” (from Andrea)
    • Jean “for helping her neighbour who is on her own after recent knee surgery” (from Mary)
    • Rachel “for always going over and above to provide offers of support. She always thinks of others and asks how we are and is the best neighbour ever. She thoroughly deserves some recognition for being kind, caring and supportive” (from Siobhan)
    Broadland Housing tenants - winners of Good Neighbour Awards April 2021

    Broadland Housing tenants can nominate a neighbour at any time for an award. All the winners receive a £25 shopping voucher, personal certificate and are featured in our Door to Door tenant magazine.

    To find out more, see our Good Neighbour Awards page.

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