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those homes are voids. T e sector already has around 34,000 empty council homes in England, plus 55,000 housing association voids, against 1.34 million households on waiting lists. A repair that adds to the void count for fi ve months is the wrong tool for the moment.
SO WHAT DOES GEOBEAR DO DIFFERENTLY? We improve the ground instead of rebuilding the foundation. We drill small holes through the foundations and inject an expanding geopolymer resin that targets the weakened soil directly. T e majority of the work happens outside the building, with no excavation, and a typical property takes days rather than months. Tenants stay in their homes throughout and most tell us they barely noticed us. It cuts the other way too: where homes have already been voided by subsidence, we can have them back in letting condition within weeks, not months or years. T e carbon footprint is around 70% lower than underpinning as well, independently verifi ed.
TELL US ABOUT THE HARROW PROJECT – THE NUMBERS THERE WERE STRIKING. T at one showed what’s possible. Harrow Council had a 12-unit block moving on shrinking clay and had followed the standard route: investigation, engineer’s recommendation to underpin, tender. T e price came back at £240,000 with 20 weeks on site, and every household – many elderly and disabled – facing relocation. We proposed the geopolymer alternative at £83,000, delivered in about ten days, nobody moving out. T e direct saving was 65%, but the indirect
savings were just as big. Temporary accommodation alone for those households over 20 weeks would have been somewhere between £240,000 and £320,000, before void losses and weeks of offi cer time arranging a decant. All in, Harrow saved close to £500,000 on one block – money that went
straight back into other maintenance projects. And honestly, the bit I’m proudest of is what didn’t happen: elderly residents weren’t moved away from family and carers for fi ve months, and not a single tree around the block was removed. It was clay tree subsidence, but our approach treats the ground rather than punishing the trees – the green space the community actually uses was untouched.
DID ANYTHING NEED TO CHANGE ON THE COUNCIL SIDE TO MAKE THAT HAPPEN? Procurement, mainly. T e tender was already running, so Harrow’s maintenance team had to make the case internally for departing from it –
which they did, with the numbers to back it up. Credit to them; challenging an established process takes nerve. T e knock-on is that Harrow is now re-evaluating other maintenance schemes through the same lens. Many procurement frameworks were written before methods like ours existed, and quietly lock in the most expensive, most disruptive option by default.
WHAT ARE TENANTS AND RESIDENTS ACTUALLY SAYING? T at’s been the most encouraging part. At Redditch, the council has had no complaints at all – if anything, tenants are pleased the council is visibly committing to fi xing their homes. Penny Bevington, who leads the capital programme there, put it simply: they put tenants fi rst, and rehoming people wasn’t a feasible option. T at framing is spreading across the sector.
IF A HOUSING MANAGER SUSPECTS SUBSIDENCE IN THEIR STOCK, WHAT SHOULD THEY DO NOW – BEFORE SUMMER? Don’t wait for the cracks to get worse. Properties showing minor movement now will deteriorate if we get another dry summer, and early intervention is always cheaper. Get them surveyed, and before committing to underpinning – or decanting tenants – ask whether ground improvement is viable. In most clay cases it is. Every decant we avoid is a home that stays in use, and right now the sector can’t spare a single one.
Omar Alata is Head of Social Housing at Geobear. To discuss subsidence aff ecting your stock, please contact the company.
0800 084 3503
www.geobear.com
omar.alata@
geobear.com
Housing Management & Maintenance Summer 2026
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