Working in partnership
At Newlon we work with a wide range of partners to support our residents' needs, to develop successful and sustainable neighbourhoods and to build more affordable homes.
Commitment to partnering is an important part of our approach. One of the most significant examples of our success is the Arsenal Regeneration Programme, our award-winning partnership with Islington Council and Arsenal Football Club. To find out more about our work at Arsenal click here.
We work in partnership with Kier and BSW to provide maintenance support for our properties, with local authorities to provide and allocate affordable housing to local people and on community initiatives to improve neighbourhoods. We work with the Housing Corporation who provide funding to support the development of new social housing, and with a wide rnage of contractors and architects who help us build these new homes.
We also work with our sister organisations Newlon Fusion and Outward to provide support for local communities and people who need additional care and support in their lives. To find out more about our approach to partnering read on...
Supporting local communities
Our work is not just about building and managing housing. We know that to create sustainable and successful communities we need to work with a wide range of partners in local authorities and in local community groups, as well as with government and regeneration agencies to support people to be able to live independent lives and realise their potential.
Prospect House Safer Spaces project, brightening up and improving the safety of the ground floor hallway.
Newlon Fusion – a new model for community involvement
We are committed to providing long-term support for the communities where our residents live. Nowhere is this more evident than with the work of our award-winning community regeneration team, Newlon Fusion.
Newlon Fusion brings together the three distinct areas of the team's work; local community programmes to help support the creation of safer and prosperous communities, training and education support for young people excluded or at threat of exclusion, and training and mentoring programmes for people who work with at risk groups.
Newlon Fusion works in all the boroughs where Newlon provides housing, working with our residents and the wider community. Current activities include the nationally recognised Progress project which supports care-leavers, the Safer Spaces project, the Arsenal Regeneration small grants fund programme and a new project with London Borough of Hackney to support young people who are not in education, training or employment.
For more information or if you are looking for a partner for a community initiative, visit www.newlonfusion.org.uk.
Supporting people throughout their lives
A very important part of the way that we provide additional support for people is through our supported living partner Outward. Outward provides housing and care for people with a wide range of support needs including the elderly and people with learning disabilities. They also have a specialist team that works with people on the autism spectrum.
Visit www.outward.org.uk for more information about what they can offer you.
Working with local authorities to provide more affordable homes for north and east London
We work in partnership with the Housing Corporation, as well as development partners and local authorities, across north and east London, to develop new homes. Some of our recent programmes are outlined below.
In Camden we are working with the Royal Free Hospital Trust to provide new and upgraded accommodation for the Trust's staff. The new purpose-built residential block, Coppetts Wood, on the site of the former William Gunn House will provide over 140 new homes. Once people have moved into the new block we will be starting work on the refurbishment of the adjacent tower Ann Bryan’s House.
In Islington, we have already reached the landmark of providing 1,000 new homes as part of the Arsenal Regeneration Programme and once the Programme is finished, we will have completed over 1,400 homes. For more information on our involvement in the Arsenal Regeneration Programme, please read our Newlon at Arsenal brochure.
Also in Islington we will, this year, be starting work on a new residential block on the Barnsbury Estate and works to upgrade the Grimaldi Community Hall.
In Hackney we have just opened a new Key Worker scheme at Murray Grove – providing 72 new homes for Key Workers and their families. This scheme offers affordable housing for the people who provide the services local people rely on in an area where prices are really high due to the proximity to the City.
In Haringey we are working in partnership with the local authority on plans for two major regeneration schemes. As part of the regeneration of the historic Tottenham Town Hall building, we plan to provide community access to the Moselle Room in the building itself as well as working on plans to provide 150 new homes on the old Clyde Road depot site to the rear. This project is intended to contribute to the overall regeneration of Tottenham High Road and create a vibrant cultural quarter linking the new Bernie Grant Arts Centre to the Town Hall complex.
Architectural projections of the Tottenham Town Hall redevelopment.
Excitingly, we are also partners in the major regeneration programme planned for Hale Village, where we are planning to build several hundred new affordable homes as part of a programme attracting new retail ventures and private housing to this run-down industrial site.
In Tower Hamlets we have a number of significant schemes underway. The largest of which, Glasshouse Fields, the site for several hundred years of glassworks, will provide 200 new homes. We have also recently taken handover of our Harford Street development where we have 85 new homes situated close to the Grand Union Canal and the Queen Mary College Campus.
In Waltham Forest we opened our landmark development at Tower Mews, sited right in the heart of the borough, during 2007, and have a number of smaller developments underway.
In Redbridge we are working in partnership with the local authority on a new contract to provide temporary accommodation for homeless families.
Creating safer spaces
Unveiling of mural for Prospect House designed by Todd Hanson (right), also attended
by Richard Said (left) and Free Form Arts' project manager, Andrew Dwyer (middle).
We provide housing in many areas of historic deprivation and work in partnership with local authorities and many local agencies to improve living conditions for our residents and local communities. We are often faced with managing difficult issues involving anti-social behaviour and the legacy of long-term deprivation including high crime and educational under-achievement. However, by working closely together with residents and local agencies it is possible to turn things round.
Our resident involvement and community regeneration teams have been working in partnership with Free Form Arts Trust, London Borough of Hackney and a number of other locally-based housing associations to set up a project called 'Safer Spaces'. This project has been working to improve communal living and access areas at a number of sites in Hackney with the involvement of local residents. At Prospect House this culminated in the creation of a mural by artist Todd Hanson based on designs created by residents to complete the work of brightening up and improving the safety of the ground floor hallway. Prospect House is now a brighter, safer and more pleasant place to live and shows that by working together we can make lasting improvements to the environment in which people live.
Creating sustainable futures
Highbury Square roof with Europe's largest solar array.
Create – our ground-breaking partnership with Gallions, Hexagon, ISHA and Wandle housing associations to ensure efficiencies in the development and construction pipeline has now appointed a sustainability manager to champion environmental efficiency across the organisations.
At Newlon we are in the process of evaluating the environmental benefit of our pioneering eco-homes scheme at Moira Close in Tottenham. Now that the scheme has been running for a few years we can analyse the benefit to the environment and the impact on residents' everyday lives.
Our new development at Highbury Square features Europe's largest solar array situated on the roof. This will harvest energy to provide hot water and underfloor heating for the whole development.
For more on all the above, please read the latest edition of our Partners Newsletter.
In partnership with our residents
We are committed to involving our residents in the management and governance of our organisation. We have currently have two Newlon residents working on our Board and have an active Residents' Forum and Leaseholders' Panel, which work with us to work out priorities for how we manage our properties.
We also encourage and support our residents to set up Residents Associations. Click here to find out more about Resident Participation.