Broadland Housing Association
Homes, community & support since 1963
Following community consultation, a planning application (ref: 23/00483/F) has been submitted to demolish two existing garage blocks at Shipfield (shown in red below). The proposed construction consists of 4 x 1-bedroom flats in their place.
At our 2022 AGM in Norwich in September we launched the new Corporate Strategy 2022-2026, incorporating 12 key objectives.
Michael Newey, Chief Executive, addressed Broadland members and outlined the significant challenges that the social housing sector faces in the coming years.
With rising costs and a probable rent cap in prospect, Michael said that Broadland Housing would focus on the immediate priorities for tenants. Some longer-term ambitions may have to be scaled back in the short term – something he called “incredibly frustrating”.
However, Michael said that launching our new 5-year Corporate Strategy was a sign of our ability to maintain a long-term perspective and demonstrated our resilience.
Despite the challenges of the continuing Covid pandemic during 2021/2022, Broadland Housing delivered 136 new homes during the year, including 111 for affordable rent and a further 25 for shared ownership. We allocated 482 homes during the year, including homes for 163 homeless households.
After the lockdown period, we focused on catching up with non-urgent repairs, carrying out 17,761 repairs during the year.
Nevertheless, Michael acknowledged at the meeting that the immediate future would present particular challenges for the social housing sector.
After two years operating in a pandemic, we all hoped that the coming year would see a more benign operating environment, but the truth is that we are presented with some very tough economic conditions. Costs continue to rise, affecting our budgets, and particularly the cost of maintenance materials.
At the same time, our tenants are also facing a really challenging economic period, with soaring energy prices and high inflation.
It seems likely that the government will implement a rent cap at a level below inflation for social housing. That is a good idea, in that it recognises the financial challenges our tenants face. However, we can only spend each pound once, so we will have to find a way to live within the cap and deal with our rising costs.
That means we must focus on the immediate priorities of supporting our tenants, and unfortunately that will entail scaling back some of our short-term ambitions, especially in terms of new development and planned improvement works.
That is incredibly frustrating, but I am confident that we are a very resilient organisation which can maintain a longer-term perspective, and our new Corporate Strategy will help us to achieve that.
Michael Newey, Chief Executive
Broadland’s new Corporate Strategy outlines 12 key objectives for the period 2022-2026:
Thanking staff, tenants, Board members and partners for their support during the year, Michael promised that we would remain focused on our core mission during the coming year.
We have the resilience and the determination to get through what will undoubtedly be a tough economic period, and we remain dedicated to supporting our tenants, helping to reduce homelessness, and making a positive contribution to communities in Norfolk and north Suffolk.
Broadland Housing is part of a coalition of local businesses, charities and public sector organisations who today launched a plan to substantially increase the number of accredited Living Wage Employers in Norwich.
The ‘Making Norwich a Living Wage City’ Action Group has today been recognised by the Living Wage Foundation. Their plan will see employers encouraged to pay the real Living Wage and become Living Wage Employers, ensuring all employees are paid what they need to get by.
The Norwich Living Wage City Action Group, which developed the plan, is an alliance of some of the city’s major businesses and institutions, all of whom are Living Wage Employers, including: Norwich City Council, Aviva, City College Norwich, Future Projects, and Broadland Housing Association.
There are currently 50 Real Living Wage accredited employers in Norwich, meaning 1,114 workers have already received a pay rise that meets the real Living Wage. The group’s action plan aims to triple the number of employers paying the real Living Wage to 150 by 2025.
Despite high levels of employment in Norwich, between March 2020 and April 2021 the city saw universal credit claims increase by 112%. This compares with 89.3% across the UK and suggests a disproportionate rise in the number of people facing in-work poverty. The number of people in work, yet not earning enough to live, will inevitably rise as the cost-of-living crisis deepens.
Norwich is home to many traditionally low-pay sectors, which means more people work in low-pay or insecure occupations. The key sectors that the action group will target to encourage employers to pay the real Living Wage are: care, retail, hospitality, and property and construction.
Councillor Alan Waters, Leader of Norwich City Council and Chair of the Norwich Living Wage Action Group, said:
Poverty has been a stubborn fact of life for many Norwich residents, one that has become an acute problem over the past decade. A Living Wage is one of the means to tackle the blight of poverty in the city. The success of the Living Wage Foundation in advocating for and successfully making the case to a growing number of employers of the benefits of paying the Living Wage, shows that insecure employment and low pay is not inevitable: there is an alternative.
Norwich is a success story with an active Living Wage movement that has LW accredited employers across all sectors of the city’s economy. But there is more to do, to take things to the next stage. That is why we have collectively worked with the LW Foundation to become a designated ‘Living Wage Place.”
Allan Waters, Leader of Norwich City Council and Chair of the Norwich Living Wage Action Group
Daniel Childerhouse, CEO of Future Projects, said:
We are delighted that Norwich has been officially designated as a Living Wage Place. This recognition from the Living Wage Foundation signifies a collective commitment from dozens of employers in Norwich to deliver an action plan to drive up the number of accredited organisations and therefore lift thousands more people out of in-work poverty in the coming years.
The Partnership at the heart of this work includes high profile employers from the public, private and voluntary sectors – all working together to make Norwich a better place to live and work. Norwich is showing real leadership in this area and I am excited to see the impact of our new status on our communities for years to come.”
Broadland’s staff and Board are very sad to hear of the passing of Martin Miller.
Martin first came to Broadland in 1968 as its first Chief Executive. Martin played an instrumental role in Broadland’s evolution, its mission and vision, which are still part of our DNA today. Back in the early 1970s, when he was then working with architects, Edward Skipper & Associates, Martin realised the way social housing provision in the UK was changing. Instead of councils supplying most social housing, their role and the funding for new housing was instead being transferred to housing associations.
Martin seized that opportunity by establishing Broadland Housing Association and he worked at Broadland for 23 years, bringing to fruition some of our most popular housing schemes.
Martin oversaw some of the most important changes in our history, from introducing tenant board members onto our Board to building some of our larger housing schemes. He also takes the credit for buying The Cedars, which became a sheltered housing scheme in Norwich. It is still one of our most popular schemes, and Martin even came back in 2006 to help us celebrate its 25th anniversary.
After Martin stepped down from his role as a Chief Executive, he continued to support Broadland as a member. Up until the pandemic he attended the AGM every year, lending us once again his vast experience and knowledge at one of our most important meetings of the year.
Michael Newey, the current Chief Executive of Broadland commented:
Martin’s contribution to the people of Norfolk and to Broadland Housing was massive. As our first Chief Executive, he helped grow Broadland from one scheme in Norwich to over 1,700 affordable rented homes across the county. Martin knew that a home is the foundation of everything else in life and he ensured that Broadland stretched itself to deliver new homes that communities needed. Personally I will miss Martin – his encouragement and his support. His family can be very proud of his contribution to this county and to lives of so many people over the years.
Michael Newey, Chief Executive
Prior to founding Broadland Housing Association, Martin, who was born in Norwich, spent the first 22 years of his career in the Norwich shoe trade with Norvic Shoe Company, eventually becoming a Board member and heading the design team for both ladies and children’s shoes.
In 1951, Martin married Barbara Barker and in September 2021 they celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary. A devoted family man, Martin was father to three daughters – Charlotte, Louise and Alexandra, and a very popular “Dumper” to eight grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
At the age of eight, Martin went to Westminster Cathedral Choir School as a boy chorister, which instilled in Martin a life-long love of music. He put this to good use as a very reliable tenor, singing for many years into his 90s with the Norwich Philharmonic Society Choir. Martin’s other great passion was for sailing. Aged 17, when called up for National Service, Martin applied to join the Royal Navy. However, much to his disappointment, Martin was conscripted down the mines for four years as a ‘Bevan Boy’, near Leeds in Yorkshire. Happily, from the 1960s until his mid-80s, Martin was able to resume his passion for boats and he regularly enjoyed dinghy sailing at Blakeney and on The Broads.
Martin Miller’s funeral will be at St Peter Mancroft at 11.00 on Friday 2nd September. All welcome. Please wear a dash of colour. Family flowers only. Donations to Mancroft Advice Project (MAP) may be sent c/o Allcock Family Funeral Services, Falcon House, 96a City Road, Norwich NR1 2HD or donate online at www.allcockfunerals.co.uk.
[UPDATE: 20 September 2022:]
Canary Quay announced as winner of Best Use of Steel Technology, Offsite Awards 2022!
Our Canary Quay project in Norwich is a finalist in 3 categories of the Offsite Awards 2022. The awards celebrate the innovative use of offsite construction technology.
With our construction partners R G Carter and Sigmat, we are shortlisted in 3 categories:
The Offsite Awards recognise projects that are outstanding examples of offsite design and technology, including prefabrication and factory-based methods, products, systems and disciplines. The 25 award Offsite Award categories cover every aspect of the building industry, from hybrid and modular technology to engineering and installation. Offsite technology is changing the contemporary built environment.
We’re extremely pleased to be shortlisted for these awards. It highlights the exciting work we’re doing in partnership with RG Carter and Sigmat at Canary Quay.
Executive Development Director Andrew Savage
The Offsite Awards ceremony will be held on 20 September at the Coventry Building Society Arena in Coventry.