Grand Union Housing Group

Grand Union Housing Group (GUHG) formed in March 2008 following the successful transfer of 2,900 properties from South Northamptonshire Council to South Northants Homes (SNH). The Group has three subsidiary organisations: Aragon Housing Association, which is one of the largest affordable housing providers in Bedfordshire; MacIntyre Housing Association, which provides specialist accommodation and support to people with learning disabilities; and South Northants Homes, which owns and manages 3,000 affordable homes.

Today the Group is a leading provider of affordable housing and related services managing 10,000 properties and is ideally placed to create and sustain neighbourhoods across Milton Keynes and the South Midlands growth area.

GUHG also helps people to enter the housing market through shared ownership (homebuy) and Key Worker homes. Currently developing more than 150 new homes per year in partnership with developers and landowners, it is committed to raising standards of delivery.

In total the Group has assets of over £300m, an annual turnover of £43m and employs 300 staff.

During 2010 GUHG began a series of new initiatives to deliver sustainable cost-effective heating solutions that provide low carbon outputs and reduce costs for our tenants, not only in new build homes but also within existing properties. To this end it acquired a significant grant from the low carbon building programme, some of which helped Aragon to record the highest average energy rating (SAP) for associations within its peer group in 2010.

Aragon is also involved in a Government sponsored retro-fit pilot which involves the complete refurbishment of a bungalow with the very latest eco-friendly technologies. The results are being monitored by students at Loughborough University, Bedford College and Cambridge Architectural Research and will help us and others to understand which technologies can best be used in the future to help reduce tenants' fuel bills. It will provide information for the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s strategy on energy efficiency and will shape GUHG's sustainability programme in the future. During 2011 it intends to capitalise on the £860m the Government has set aside for renewable heat incentives. The intention is to install solar panels on south-facing roofs. This will generate savings for our tenants and provide income to the Group via feed-in tariffs.

Subsidiary Aragon’s Retirement Service has recently been awarded the highest possible rating (5*) in a recent review of the Quality Assessment Framework (QAF).

MacIntyre, which specialises in providing permanent accommodation for people with learning disabilities, has just opened the first development of four independent flats under its Project Abode scheme, of which it is hoped a further seven stages will follow.

It is also a landmark year for South Northants Homes as it is about to start work on the first of its own developments to build four new homes in Helmdon.

Why we joined the Housing Forum

Networking: The conferences are attended by a lot of our existing and potential stakeholders.
Self promotion: We gained demonstration project status for the Paragon Partnership about ten years ago. We can be involved with working groups and knowledge sharing forums.
Best practice: To keep up to date with best practice.

Website: www.grandunionhousing.co.uk