BUSINESS PROFILE | ESTUARY HOUSING ASSOCIATION


Over the next three years, Estuary is


ACCOMMODATING CHANGING TIMES


ESTUARY HOUSING ASSOCIATION www.estuary.co.uk


creating 400 new homes along the Thames Gateway into East London – a venture that will see the social business moving into new funding territory while increasing its existing portfolio. While most of the homes will be allocated as affordable housing, some will be sold through a new subsidiary company to subsidise further development, thereby reducing the need for borrowing and grant funding.


In 2010, Estuary Housing Association faced a troubling dilemma. The not-for-profit organisation has provided social housing for people in the South East of England since 1984 but, as government investment in social housing


was reduced by 63 per cent under the Coalition, further asset development looked uncertain. Rising to the challenge, the association soon established a new business model – one that was founded on growth.


AFFORDABLE HOUSING It is an innovative and pragmatic solution, and one that Estuary has good reason to be confident in. Since its last development push in 2007/8, the association’s annual turnover has increased by 46 per cent. “The board was no longer happy with just delivering services,” says Amanda Ashley-Smith, Estuary’s Executive Director of Corporate Resources. “They wanted to extend the provision of affordable housing because there’s such a regional shortage.” In fact, an estimated 250,000 homes need


to be built every year to meet this shortfall, according to the National Housing Federation (NHF), yet annual construction is expected to reach just 200,000 by 2021. The CBI and NHF lobby government on this pressing issue, and Ashley-Smith sits on the former’s East of England Council, while Estuary’s Chief Executive Paul Durkin is Vice Chair of the latter’s East Regional Sounding Board. Clearly the needs of local people are a


major concern. Through carefully designed buildings, communal spaces and a range of activities for residents, Estuary strives to foster a sense of community, and it has received the Customer Service Excellence accreditation for the last six years. “We have worked to streamline our costs


and to ensure that we can maintain the quality,” says Ashley-Smith. “It has been key that we have been constantly watching the horizon and adapting our business plan in order to respond to some very dynamic changes that have taken place within the sector.” As the business continues to adapt, it looks set not merely to survive but to flourish.


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