What we do

We are a long standing delivery partner of Homes England supported by strong working relationships with local authorities, contractors and housebuilders. We lead two key partnerships: Bloc and Innovation Chain North. We also enter into joint ventures such as the Hive Homes and Forge New Homes

Our market sale and private rent properties are delivered through Cube Great Places Ltd, the private sector arm of the organisation. The purpose of Cube is to generate a profit to subsidise the core business of affordable housing.

Our award-winning sales team, Plumlife, specialise in the sale of new homes, including those which are affordable for shared ownership. They use their knowledge and experience, to provide valuable input into the design and specification of all of our development schemes for sale, helping us provide customers with outstanding choice.

How we do this

We deliver new build development projects through various procurement routes, including:

• Direct commissioning of ICN framework contractors to build projects on land we have sourced
• Development agreements with local and national housebuilders, including Section 106 schemes
• Working in partnerships and joint ventures with developers, such as Hive Homes and Forge Homes
• Working as development agents to provide our services to other housing associations and developing organisations.

We have written our own development procedure guide which provides detailed information on the processes and procedures we follow throughout the life of a development project. All of our working practices are designed to ensure compliance with Homes England funding regulations and audit requirements.

We have also developed the Project Journal tool, which supports project management, briefing, benchmarking and continuous improvement to ensure high-quality outcomes for all our developments. The Project Journal makes sure design aspirations are met and records and monitors project risks.

Design is an important part of our approach. Our aim is always to deliver high quality, functional, easy-to-maintain properties which enrich their neighbourhoods. We draw on our extensive experience to continually improve our design guide, standard house types and specifications.

We aim to achieve 100% customer satisfaction and use feedback to find more ways to improve the homes we build and the service we provide. As an organisation we take a robust approach to construction contract management, focussing on time, cost and quality.

The social impact of our investment is maximised through our in-house scheme ‘Toolbox’, making sure training, employment and apprenticeship opportunities are included within development and investment contracts. This is enhanced by the ICN social value pledges.