Social Housing

Boris Johnson – Department for Communities and Local Government – June 2014

“London’s population is growing at its fastest pace since the 1930s, and in less than ten years there will be more Londoners than at any time in our history. By 2031 we expect to be a city of 10 million inhabitants.”

“Across London, many estates of post war public housing are reaching the end their functional life, too often built as impersonal blocks at lower densities than our most successful neighbourhoods. Carefully planned redevelopment will give existing residents bright, warm new homes meeting my improved design standards, provide urgently needed homes of all tenures and establish vibrant neighbourhoods in areas which have not seen any investment for over a generation.”

The government believes that all social housing should meet a minimum standard of decency and that it should:

• be free of health and safety hazards
• be in a reasonable state of repair
• have reasonably modern kitchens, bathrooms and boilers
• be reasonably insulated

At the beginning of April 2011, there were 217,000 council houses that were in such a poor state of repair that they didn’t meet this standard. To help local councils with the worst housing, the government provided £1.6 billion to the Decent Homes programme for the period 2011 to 2015. A further £160 million has been allocated for 2015 to 2016.

At Standage we are proud to have a long history of working with various London boroughs and in recent times have contributed to the Government’s mission of bringing social housing to a decent standard resulting in new windows, kitchens and bathrooms in thousands of homes.

Since 2006 Hackney Council has invested £184 million in Decent Homes improvements and in 2011 it was agreed that half a billion pounds would be spent on Southwark Council’s homes over five years – one of the biggest investment programmes in the country.

As well as the Decent Homes Programme the Government’s £150m Estates Regeneration Programme was initiated to regenerate run down estates, increase the number of homes and improve the quality of life for residents.

Southwark is fast becoming one of London’s most dynamic boroughs with 40 per cent currently under regeneration and developments valued at around £4 billion.

As a preferred supplier to Southwark Council for many years Standage have been a main contractor on many of the Estate Regeneration projects throughout the borough. See these case studies for further details http://www.standage.co.uk/case-studies/

We have also been instrumental in bringing both the Eveline Lowe Estate http://www.standage.co.uk/case-studies/eveline-lowe-estate-decent-homes-project/ and the St.Saviours Estate http://www.standage.co.uk/case-studies/st-saviours-estate-decent-homes-project/ both in SE1 up to the standard of decency requested by the Government and expected by its residents.