Customers have moved into our completed modular homes at Bradney Green in Coventry.
We are working with Coventry City Council and Modpods International on our extended modular pilot to build 24 homes on eight garage sites across the city.
Seymour Angus and Linda Goodenough have moved into one of the modular homes at Bradney Green. They previously lived in a flat but needed a bungalow.
Linda said: “I love the house, the kitchen and the tiles – everything is high spec. I also love the patio doors and the garden – I’ve waited years for a garden.
“We only saw the house twice before we moved in and I was so excited about moving in, I couldn’t wait.
“We lived in a two-bedroom flat and we needed a bungalow so we got this new build in Canley – how can you not be happy living in a home like this.”
Seymour added: “I feel like I have won the lottery moving into this house. The overall quality of the house is brilliant. We never want to leave.
“This is my holiday home for life. It’s beautiful, very well designed, it couldn’t be better.”
The homes are built at the Modpods International factory in Stoneleigh and are transported to site by truck. They are then craned into place and connected to services.
Director of Development Richard Whittaker said: “It’s lovely to hear this feedback from our customers and to hear how much they love living in one of our modular homes.
“We hope Linda and Seymour enjoy living in their home and we are looking forward to seeing more customers move into our modular homes too.
“At Citizen we have an ambitious development programme to meet the ever-increasing need for homes in the region, and we have a particular focus on building quality affordable homes.”
All the homes in our extended modular pilot are affordable which means they will help those who are currently waiting on the housing list.
Our G1 rating has been affirmed in the Regulator for Social Housing’s latest annual stability check and our viability rating has been regraded to V2 from V1.
The driver for the viability regrade is down to us accelerating energy efficiency improvement works to over 2,000 of our Coventry properties which will see customers benefit from more energy efficient homes by the end of 2025 – which is five years earlier than the Government’s 2030 deadline. We included news about this in our first customer email back in April and have since held open days at community centres in Holbrooks and Canley and have written to around 1,300 customers already whose homes are due to benefit from these improvement works.
The purpose of the annual stability check is to confirm whether we are meeting the Regulator for Social Housing’s requirements of their governance and financial viability standard.
Maintaining our G1 rating means we meet the regulator’s governance requirements and is the highest governance rating.
V2 means we remain compliant with around 50 percent of the sector now rated V2.
Our chief financial officer Gary Booth said: “The Regulator for Social Housing has made it clear the driver for our regrade was our conscious decision to accelerate our retrofit improvement works on our existing homes to bring properties up to a minimum EPC C rating.
“We decided, with full support of our Board, to submit a significant bid for Wave 2 funding of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund last autumn and we were awarded £24m to contribute towards the £74m cost of the works. By the end of 2025, we will have carried out energy efficiency improvements to over 2,000 of our homes.
“These works will improve the energy efficiency of our customers’ homes ahead of the Government’s 2030 target and will follow our success from the funding we received in Wave 1 of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.”
You can read the statement from the Social Housing Regulator about our G1/V2 status here.
We’re working with Severn Trent to upgrade water supply pipes across Coventry.
The water company has launched its ‘Protecting Customer Supply Pipes’ project which is part of their £566 million Green Recovery – one of the biggest recent investments in local water networks and will provide safe, reliable and high-quality water supplies for the city.
Severn Trent are upgrading supply pipes for free for our customers and this will bring benefits such as improved water flow and a reduction in the risk of leaks while helping housing associations and its residents save water and money on repairs.
Our director of asset management Bridget Guilfoyle said: “We’re pleased to be working with Severn Trent to replace old water pipes for some of our customers in Coventry.
“Older pipes are more at risk of leaks and can also narrow over time. This project with Severn Trent means our customers will get new pipes that will save money and water and will improve water flow into their homes.
“The fact that these works are being completed for free is a great help to our customers and we hope they will benefit from the works.”
Green Recovery Supply Pipes project manager at Severn Trent, Mellany Gould, said: “The last couple of years have been tough for everyone, and we want to help. That’s why as part of our Green Recovery, we’re replacing thousands of supply pipes across Coventry for free.
“We want to update our local water networks to make them fit for the future, reduce the risk of leaks, and make the most of our water – which is why it’s great to work closely with Citizen to reach more customers.
“We’ve recently got in touch with Citizen residents to inform them of this great opportunity – all they need to do is sign up and arrange a suitable time for us to come and check their pipes. It’s that easy.”
We’re working with Persimmon Homes South Midlands to bring more affordable homes to people across the county.
A number of new homes developed by Persimmon South Midlands team, have recently been handed over to us.
The homes are a mix of one to four bedrooms and are on three sites at Orchard Mews in Pershore, Oakhurst Village in Shirley, and Meon Way Gardens in Long Marston.
We marked the handover by visiting Orchard Mews.
Our director of development Richard Whittaker said: “It’s great to see these new homes completed ready for our customers to move into.
“At Citizen we are committed to working with our partners, such as Persimmon Homes, to make a positive difference to our customers and communities. There is an ever-increasing need for the right homes in the right areas and we’re pleased to have been involved in these three schemes to bring more affordable housing to Worcestershire and Warwickshire.”
Managing director at Persimmon Homes South Midlands Russell Griffin said: “Handing over a portion of our homes on these three developments is the latest example of our successful partnership with Citizen , which is delivering much-needed new homes for local families across Warwickshire and Worcestershire. It was great to welcome Richard to the site to see the positive impact these homes are having in the region.
“We’re continuing to work hard to prioritise quality and affordability for all our customers. As well as the homes which have now been transferred, the average price of a Persimmon home is 25% below the market average in England and Wales – extending the opportunity of home ownership to more local families.
“We’ll continue to work closely with our local partners to ensure our investment makes a positive difference to communities across Worcestershire and Warwickshire.”
We are thrilled to announce that we have won one of the most sought-after awards in the health and safety industry – Gold award with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).
A RoSPA award covers all aspects of health and safety and we’ve been awarded gold for demonstrating the effectiveness of our day-to-day health and safety management system.
This prestigious award recognises the hard work and commitment of everyone across our organisation and the steps we’ve taken to prioritise safety.
Our interim head of health and safety Jon Boulton said: “It’s a fantastic achievement and everyone has contributed in one way or another, whether that’s by being involved in training to ensure colleagues and contractors are competent to fulfil their roles, completing risk assessments, reporting performance, supporting with safety committees, dealing with sickness absence, investigating accidents or learning from our mistakes for future planning, it has all made a significant difference!
“Accidents at work and work-related ill health don’t just have huge financial implications or cause major disruption – they can significantly impact an individual’s quality of life, so I’m extremely pleased we’ve been recognised in this way and shown to have a positive health and safety culture.
“Thank you to those who contributed to the award submission and a massive thank you to the health and safety team for making the success happen.
“Well done everyone and thank you for helping us to show just how important health and safety is at Citizen.”
The next generation of retrofit experts are learning their trade while working on our homes as part of our latest social housing decarbonisation project.
We’re working with contractors Westdale Midlands Ltd and staff at Coventry College to train students on how to carry out retrofit works such as installing external wall insulation
Their practical learning takes place by carrying work out on our homes as part of energy improvement works to 2,000 homes across Coventry. This is wave two of the social housing decarbonisation fund.
Prior to this learning, the students will have completed a Green Skills Insulation Bootcamp at Coventry College and when this is finalised, they have an interview with Westdale. If successful, they are able to carry out further skills training at the Westdale training academy based in Coventry and work on our homes through the sector-based Work Academy Programme.
Our director of asset management Bridget Guilfoyle said: “We’re so pleased to be working with Westdale Midlands and Coventry College to help train the next generation of people who will be retrofitting our homes.
“The students will be working on our social housing decarbonisation fund wave two homes, and they will get lots of opportunities to learn on the job. We are thrilled to be part of a project which helps support people learn new skills in retrofitting.
“The project also gives employment and training opportunities, for all the related specialist contractors and surveyors that we need to deliver a project of this scale.
“We’re also really proud that we have been successful with Coventry City Council in our bid to wave two of the social housing decarbonisation fund, which will help us deliver more energy efficient homes and will support our customers in keeping their homes warm.”
Works as part of wave two of the social housing decarbonisation fund will take place over the next two years and improve the energy performance rating of a home to EPC C.
Liam Pollard, who took part in the course, said: “I am very grateful for the opportunity to train with Westdale Midlands who allocated me to an existing crew of operatives. Having successfully completed a period on site working with this crew, I have now gained full time employment on the Coventry Wave Two site.
“For anybody looking for a great new opportunity to learn new skills and a trade, I would strongly recommend getting in touch with Westdale so they can also gain the same opportunities.”
Director of Westdale Midlands Adrian Bishop said: “We are proud to be part of such a strong team working across and for the benefit of the community of Coventry. It is a great outcome for Westdale Midlands that we are able to provide a vehicle for maximising outcomes through a training academy which results in giving others the opportunity of full-time employment.”
Vice Principal Business Growth, Engagement and Partnerships, Gemma Knott said: “Coventry College is proud to be demonstrating innovation and to show that it is meeting the skills needs of large employers such as Westdale and Citizen by developing a high quality series of bootcamps in insulation training using its funding from the West Midlands Combined Authority.
“We have recently submitted a bid to the Decarbonisation Skills Training Competition to help us to further scale up our training to support the zero carbon initiatives and targets set by central government.”
We partnered with Coventry City Council in submitting the bid to the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (formally known as the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy – BEIS).
Cllr David Welsh, Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities, added: “I’ve said many times that we are committed to working with our partners to raise housing standards across the city and projects like this are essential and have a positive impact on communities.
“We want to keep delivering transformative schemes that can improve people’s lives, helping to move people out of fuel poverty, and I’m delighted that this is creating vital opportunities to local Coventry College students.”
Cllr Jim O’Boyle, Cabinet Member for Jobs, Regeneration and Climate Change, said: “This is an excellent project, because it is helping the city to tackle climate change while providing new skills and job opportunities for Coventry College students, both are equally crucial.
“The council has also recently developed a new Strategic Energy Partnership so we are aiming to develop a number of schemes to drive a new green economy that will bring jobs and skills for generations to come.”
Director of GJK consultants, Gareth Keith, who provides strategic management services delivering SHDF programmes said: “Organisations often identify the need but fail to provide opportunities to train local people in delivering these type projects because they either don’t last long enough or priorities change. Through close collaboration between all stakeholders and an innovative approach, it’s great to see how this project is providing skills and real-life experiences to young, local people, which will benefit them and the green economy long into the future. Training and education is such an important outcome for any largescale decarbonisation programme and it also improves the socio-economic environment in the locality”.
The current cohort of students started working on Citizen homes at the end of August.
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