New homes meeting future needs
Throughout 2023/24, we invested £43 million to build 170 new homes and we took on some additional homes from another housing provider. At the end of 23/24 we owned and managed a total of 7,865 homes, continuing our mission to provide safe, high-quality, and affordable housing in London and Hertfordshire.
Of these 170 new homes we built 43 homes for social rent, 40 for affordable
rent, 6 for intermediate rent, 81 for Shared Ownership as well as two commercial properties. We’re also on track to deliver 286 new homes in 2024/25 that are 100% affordable. This commitment will continue to ensure that more families and individuals, including those with support or accessibility needs can access secure, affordable homes within the communities we support, and work with, in London.
Our dedication to delivering safe, high-quality homes to the highest fire safety standards continued in 2023/24 alongside ensuring the highest standards of fire safety and compliance. We’ve introduced more detailed, tighter quality controls during the design and build process of our new buildings, for safety and energy efficiency, along with detailed inspections of our buildings once they’ve been completed by contractors.
We actively consult with our residents throughout the process, from planning to post-occupation reviews. These consultations help us improve everything from security features to the overall design of our homes, ensuring that we’re always putting our residents' needs and knowledge at the heart of what we do.
Case study: Kings Cross regeneration
We’ve continued the work of our founder, Father Basil Jellicoe over 100 years since he started work to replace the slum housing in Somers Town. We’ve continued the regeneration of the area in 2023/24 delivering 128 new 1 to 4 bedroom homes as part of the Kings Cross regeneration project, all available at social rents.
These homes are well planned and spacious, go way beyond London’s design standards and are located in a quieter part of the development.
One of our residents at the development tells us more about what it’s like to live there: “It’s such an amazing flat, I still look at it today and think how did this happen? Having spent a couple of years in a Camden hostel it’s all pretty amazing.”
Read more about the inspiring story behind the quote here:
Celebrating 100 years: Father Basil Jellicoe
Father Jellicoe, born in Chailey, Sussex, in 1899, was the son of an ordained priest. After graduating from Magdalen College Oxford, he became Missioner at the Magdalen Mission at St Mary’s Church in Somers Town in 1921. He was horrified at the living conditions in the slums of Somers Town, where residents faced terrible poverty and overcrowding.
Father Jellicoe’s community and welfare approach to housing was fairly unique at the time, and through nation-wide fundraising tours and his connections to the Oxford College network, he managed to promote The St. Pancras House Improvement Society across the country. This later went on to become Origin Housing as we know it today.