We deliver one of the largest new affordable housing programmes in the country and whilst we’re proud of this accolade, we’re even prouder of our commitment to making great places where all of our customers, regardless of tenure, have the opportunity to thrive.
Whether it’s new build homes, conversions, or regeneration schemes, we focus on quality and sustainability to make places people want to live in today and in years to come.
The Homes & Place Standard
In 2021, Sovereign launched its Homes and Place Standard. The standard is the result of 18 months’ worth of work; co-created with our residents, and in consultation with technical teams, legislative requirements, housebuilders and Sovereign’s ongoing management and maintenance teams to design a set of standards, and a scoring matrix that has been tested and rolled-out across our Development team.
The standard benchmarks all our existing and future housing against measures that include sustainability, cost-of-living, wellbeing, and connectivity. It’s the single biggest change to how we measure the quality of the homes and places we provide and will ensure Sovereign’s customers can thrive in a home, and environment that they’re proud to call home. It’s also a real steer towards achieving the right outcomes for one of our sectors’ biggest challenges, namely decarbonisation and a pathway to net zero.
Celebrating heritage at Victory Oak
Placemaking is one of our core values, and this truly leads where we develop homes and the way we develop homes, and our Victory Oak development is testament to this. On the site of a derelict former Second World War military hospital in rural Hampshire, we delivered 210 new homes and created a wildlife habitat to protect the local wildlife.
Our dedication to creating great places for people, and wildlife, was recognised when we were awarded the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) for Excellence in the Spatial Planning category – a fitting tribute to the site’s heritage.
Carbon zero at Springfield Meadows
In 2019, Sovereign was the first housing association to work with Greencore Construction to build carbon zero homes at Springfield Meadows development in Oxfordshire.
The Greencore homes design design uses an off-site modular build with hemp and lime insulation to offset carbon for the lifetime of the homes. The result is reduced energy bills making them cheaper to run for our residents, and with net carbon zero, they are helping us toward our environmental targets.
An award-winning neighbour at Bristol Harbourside
As part of the Bristol harbourside regeneration, we delivered 93 new apartments at Wapping Wharf contributing to our extensive shared ownership programme, delivering over 250 new homes in the city and reigniting the harbourside community alongside a vibrant collection of start-up businesses and independent shops and restaurants.
Designed by Alec French Architects, the development embodies the wharf-like character and incorporates the historic New Gaol walls. The one-and-two-bedroom apartments can be accessed by broad flights of steps leading to landscaped courtyards, with many apartments boasting unrivalled views of the Floating Harbour or the River Avon. If being part of building this fantastic community wasn’t enough, we were awarded the Best Shared Ownership Development (Urban) by CIH/Inside Housing.