Homes and Place

Offscreen, Reporter: These new homes are about as eco-friendly as they come. Zero carbon, net zero energy, and surrounded by plenty of outdoor space. Nine of the 25 plots here belong to Sovereign, their vision is not only to provide affordable homes, but to build good quality, well designed homes like this in sustainable communities. They've set out those principles in a new assessment tool, the homes in place standard. 

[00:34] Speaker: Tom Titherington, Chief Investment and Development Officer: What we've done is spent 12 months developing our Homes and Place Standard. And that means looking at everything external, all the standards that there are - everything to do with carbon neutrality and biodiversity, but also means working, co creating the standard with colleagues from across the organisation and with residents. And I think that really sets it apart in the sense that what we've done is something which comes out of the organisation and out of the organisation's experience, but brings in all the current thinking about what we should be doing to make homes which are fit for the future. 

[01:12] Offscreen, Reporter: The 60,000 homes sovereign already own will be assessed against the new standard over the next 30 years. But it won't be a tick box approach. 

[01:21] Speaker: Nicole Sharp, Executive Director of Property services: What we'll do is look at the home and the place that it's situated in and through a range of different lenses look to see whether, on the whole, does this home and the place that it's in meet the standard and aspiration that we have. So in some areas, some homes will in other areas, some homes won't. But it's about the broader sense around the vision that we're trying to create, which fundamentally comes back to safety, quality and is it affordable - is it warm for our customers to live in? The premise is about learning as we go along, making sure that we leverage the technologies and the new materials to make sure that our homes meet that standard. 

[02:03] Offscreen, Reporter: The materials used in this development provide the highest levels of thermal protection. They're designed and built by Greencore, who say sustainability is achievable on a large scale. 

[02:16] Speaker: Ian Pritchett, Managing Director, Greencore Construction: The more bio-based materials you put in a house, the more carbon you capture. And if you design the house appropriately, you can balance out all the carbon capture of the bio-based materials with the emissions from the high energy materials like the concrete, the steel, the glass, and it just becomes a balancing act to lock up as much carbon as you emit and get to zero carbon.

[02:38] Offscreen, Reporter: At this much bigger development. Next in Newbury Racecourse, 500 new homes belong to Sovereign. It's a unique and popular place to live in a vibrant community. That's what attracted shared ownership customer, Ricardo Salvador, who's looking forward to moving in. 

[02:55] Speaker: Ricardo Salvador, New Resident: The whole area is a really good area. We're not a fan of racehorses myself. But I do like the greenery around the parks, or the area for the kids to walk and run and it’s not too far from Newbury town centre, but it's not too close either, so it's kind of a perfect distance.

[03:13] Speaker, Carolyn Sim, Reporter: The commitments Sovereign are making is huge - applying their standard to all of their homes. And the big aim is to become net zero in terms of carbon emissions by 2050. So, over the next 30 years sovereign will begin a major multimillion pound program of renewal while building 1900 new homes a year. 

[03:37] Speaker: Tom Titherington, Chief Investment and Development Officer: If we can provide really good homes in really good places, it's kind of better for the economy, and it's better for the people that live there.

00:04.2 – 00:12.9 At Sovereign we believe that everyone should live in a home and a place where they feel safe, part of their community and where they can thrive.

00:13.9 - 00:22.2 Our homes and play standard is the quality Benchmark for a Sovereign home an underpins our development and investment strategy.

00:21.1 – 00:38.1 It's a big step on our journey to making all our homes great places to live. Homes that enhance the environment and promote sustainable living. The Standard aligns with national planning policy and will support our partnerships with local authorities and provides a pathway to achieving NetZero.

00:37.1 – 00.45.0 The Standard is made up of four key areas: Customers Homes Place and Sustainable Future.

00:46.6 – 01:03.0 Our customers’ experience of their homes and places is our priority. We take pride in safe and affordable communities that are healthy inclusive and full of delight for everyone. We’ll achieve this by making sure that our homes are comfortable and cost-effective for our customers.

01:04.1 - 01:17.8 New homes will be carefully designed to be flexible and adaptable into the future, complementing and enhancing their local community and environment. Our places will be inclusive providing different kinds of homes where people feel safe.

01:19.1 - 01:32.4 They'll connect with and complement the existing built environment and promote sustainable design. And we take a sustainable approach to the delivery and running of homes. So they'll be energy efficient with a low environmental impact.

01:33.3 – 02:00.3 We’ll score existing homes and new development opportunities against the Standard and it will inform our investment or replacement strategy for our existing homes in this way. We'll create homes and communities that support customers health and wellbeing making it easy for them to get on with their lives in a home that's warm comfortable secure and affordable to run that also reduces their impact on the environment in sustainable communities.