Partnership working on show as MHCLG visit the North East

As part of our work to support housing partnerships across the North and work closely with key government departments, we welcomed colleagues from the Social Housing Directorate at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to the North East for a tour of members’ sites.

Emma Payne (Director, Social Housing) and Nick Burkitt (Deputy Director of Affordable Housing Regulation & Investment), who are responsible for the Affordable Homes Programme, spent the day engaging with the North East Housing Partnership (NEHP) with visits to regeneration and development sites across the region.

The tour began with a visit to Livin Housing’s Jubilee Fields Estate in Shildon. The estate is a shining example of Livin’s placemaking approach to regeneration, with a strong focus on engaging with the community and local partners to address estate-wide issues.

Next stop was to Livin’s Laburnum Grove development in St. Helen Auckland, a new 59-home development on brownfield land. All homes meet the Building Regulations Part M4(2) for accessibility and adaptability, and Livin made one home in the development a high energy efficiency demonstrator home in anticipation of a Future Homes Standard.

Midway through the day, delegates stopped for a lunch event with a presentation from NEHP Chair, Paul Fiddaman. With housing association and local authority representatives from across the NEHP in attendance, Paul presented on the challenges and opportunities for north east housing providers in delivering new homes and regenerating communities.

Included in the visit was Karbon Homes’ 750-home Seaham Garden Village development site, with funding for the project coming through Karbon’s Strategic Partnership with Homes England. The development will feature a primary school, health and wellbeing facility, and an innovation centre. Karbon plans to heat the affordable homes using a district heating scheme powered by minewater heat.

Travelling further North along the coast, delegates visited Gentoo’s Cricketers Hill development in North Sunderland. The site was previously a Primary School but was demolished in 2009 and in 2023 the site transferred to Gentoo, with 115 affordable homes now under development. Each home will achieve an EPC A rating, with Air Source Heat Pumps, PV Panel, fill insulation and electric vehicle charging.

The final leg of the visit brought delegates to Bernicia’s Holborn Docks development in South Shields. Bernicia’s 36 affordable homes will be delivered alongside a wider regeneration project on the former industrial site, with South Tyneside Council leading the project with the aim to reinvigorate the brownfield land and deliver high-quality family homes.

The visit provided senior civil servants, responsible for funding and policy decisions – including the delivery of the Affordable Homes Programme – which impact social housing providers, with the opportunity to see the productive work members are doing. It highlighted the great partnership work which is happening across the North to deliver new homes and regeneration projects.

The NHC will continue to engage with civil servants and other key stakeholders to highlight the work our members are doing to transform communities across the North.