Moving forward | Strategic report
Building and maintaining great partnerships
We continue to pride ourselves in doing business the ‘Longhurst Group way’ – delivering reliable, trusted and mutually beneficial partnerships that deliver positive change for our customers and communities.
A partnership approach
As a developer of circa 750 new homes each year, we fully understand the challenges and opportunities involved in creating new communities across the East Midlands and East of England.
Our revised development strategy targets growth in around 20 local authorities across Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire to deliver new homes for rent, intermediate home ownership and market sale, with an ambition to increase our annual output to 1,000 new homes by 2025.
Strengthening communities
With a demonstrable track record of flexible partnership working and an unwavering commitment to high quality design and improved environmental standards to every development opportunity, our principal driver is providing a long-lasting legacy in local communities.
We enable this by ensuring local people are given opportunity to benefit from our developments, together with a focus on long-term sustainability.
Achieving the best possible value for money
Our procurement strategy, launched last year, has helped deliver operational savings and high-quality products and services to ensure we’re getting the best possible value for money and working with partners who share our vision and values.
Working with like-minded contractors and developers, we’ve continued to push the boundaries of what can be delivered and, more importantly, what’s expected in terms of performance, added value and social benefit.
Strong, established partnerships
Our partnership approach is integral to our growth and development success, with our strategic partner status with Homes England, helping us to deliver one of the largest affordable programmes across the Midlands and East of England as we progress our ambitions to build 4,000 new homes by 2028/29, with a mix of grant and non-grant funded opportunities.
Evera Homes LLP, our partnership with Cross Keys Homes, Hyde Group and Flagship Group, enjoyed its first completion during the last 12 months, with 60 homes completed, sold and occupied at the historic RAF Upwood site in Cambridgeshire.
We’ve continued to work closely with other valued partners, including Countryside and Vistry, as well as successfully managing the Blue Skies Consortium alongside Nottingham Community Housing Association.
Strong and established relationships with our local authorities see us as partner of choice across 13 potential developments in Huntingdonshire, where we’ll help regenerate brownfield sites to provide in-demand affordable homes.
Case study
Innovative partnership to deliver sustainable homes
Our vision is to provide the homes people need, where they’re needing most and, by working with partners like LoCaL Homes and Burmour, utilising modern methods of construction, we’re delivering that vision in an innovative and environmentally-responsible way.
Partnership working for Harry’s Pledge
Outside of providing the homes people need, we also have established partnerships with a multitude of local agencies and community projects that help us enhance the communities we serve and improve the lives of the people living there. This includes close working relationships with local authorities, community projects and charitable organisations.
Our approach to working in partnership with other organisations through the Harry’s Pledge campaign has continues to help us raise the profile of the valuable work provided by carers, both paid and unpaid, across the country as well as the need for providing more accessible homes.
The campaign has gone from strength to strength in the last 12 months, with over 100 organisations providing their support and showing their commitment to careers in several ways, including making changes to policy, introducing greater support for unpaid carers, committing to paying carers the real living wage and building more accessible homes.
Through successful stakeholder engagement and influencing, the campaign has also inspired MPs to take action, including Peter Bone MP for Wellingborough who has introduced a Private Members’ Bill to Parliament and the tabling of Harry’s Bill: a bill to make provision about meeting the needs of people providing care and of people receiving care; and for connected purposes.
In depth
Westminster briefing event for Harry's Pledge
A Private Members’ Bill is to be introduced in parliament following the success of the first ever Harry’s Pledge breakfast briefing in Westminster. Supporters of the Pledge, along with MPs and key stakeholders came together to discuss the importance of supporting carers and those they care for.
Leveraging our size and regional importance, we’ll continue to ensure that Growth and Development helps deliver the core objectives of the Group’s Improving Lives strategy.
With a 60-strong team spanning new business, land, development, construction and sales, Longhurst Group is well placed to support organisations to deliver their development plans through initial appraisal, planning, pre- and post-contract, through to delivery on site and marketing for sale.
Maximising all of this experience and expertise, we’ll continue to build partnerships to benefit and customers and communities to support health, wellbeing and economic resilience
We’ll also remain proactive in establishing new relationships and maximising further opportunities, partnerships and joint ventures with local authorities, developers and other registered providers.
“We’ll continue to build partnerships to benefit and customers and communities to support health, wellbeing and economic resilience”
In the last 12 months we carried out a stakeholder perception survey with key partners and contacts across the housing sector and beyond. We received positive feedback about the way we do business and how the profile and influence is continuing to grow.
Other key themes that emerged included an ask for us to review the quality of some services, clarify our ambitions for growth and our geography while continuing to position ourselves as an attractive and realistic option for organisations looking to merge.
© Longhurst Group Limited
Longhurst Group Ltd is a charitable housing association registered in England as a community benefit society (Reg. No. 8009) and registered with the Regulator of Social Housing (No. L4277).
Registered Office: 1 Crown Court, Crown Way, Rushden, Northamptonshire NN10 6BS. VAT Reg No. 326 0270 36. A member of the National Housing Federation.