Date published: 04 February 2020
Over the last year, Stonewater has accelerated its housebuilding plans, secured the largest Homes England strategic partnership funding allocation to date and embraced new opportunities through the building of strong relationships with a diverse range of partners. It is therefore no surprise that the housing association has been shortlisted for a number of accolades, including Homebuilder of the Year.
Through its forward-thinking approach and strong stakeholder relationships, Stonewater is succeeding in its mission to deliver good quality affordable homes to the people who need them most. The organisation will contend for the four awards at the UKHA ceremony taking place on 7 May 2020.
Stonewater’s commitment to celebrating diversity and inclusivity has also resulted in the organisation launching ground-breaking projects to provide much-needed services to support as many marginalised and largely voiceless communities as possible.
These include its South Asian Women’s Refuge, which is providing sanctuary and support for South Asian women and their children fleeing domestic abuse – which
has been shortlisted in the supported housing landlord category – and Safe Space, which offers housing and support for members of the LGTBQ+ community who have experienced domestic abuse, discrimination or family breakdown.
As well as creating inclusive services for often hard-to-reach customer groups, Stonewater has also set up a number of forums for its own colleagues that champion the idea of feeling comfortable enough to truly be themselves at work.
Nicholas Harris, Chief Executive at Stonewater, said: “Our strategic plan evidences our commitment to inclusivity, equality and diversity in all we do – our decisions, policies, services to customers, and the way we treat colleagues and partners. We were an early adopter of the Chartered Institute of Housing’s ‘Diversity in Leadership’ challenge and we have an Equality and Diversity Strategy Group set up at Stonewater, ensuring our Equality Framework is embedded throughout the whole organisation.”
The housing provider has also been shortlisted in the campaign of the year: housing association category for its successful creation and launch of a new online customer portal called MyHome. Customers have been integral throughout the process, shaping MyHome’s development at every stage and helping to promote the new digital self-service facility to Stonewater’s wider customer community.
“MyHome has delivered on, and far exceeded, our own objectives”, continued Nick. “It has been warmly welcomed by our customers and has enabled us to meet the changing needs of our organisation and residents, as well as improving customer experience and boosting efficiency.
“We’re truly proud of the work that we do and are always looking for new and innovative ways to provide services for our customers. So, I’m very pleased to see so many different areas of our organisation recognised for the work that we do and shortlisted for these prestigious awards, alongside other leading housing providers – it’s a huge testament to everything we are trying to achieve.”