Kingdom Housing Association has revealed figures that show it invested £87.76 million in its development programme in 2021/22, making it the largest annual investment in affordable housing in the association’s history.
Kingdom Housing Association provided £43 million in private finance funding, £43 million of funding came from the Scottish Government, with the balance of funding provided by local Councils.
465 homes were completed during the year with a further 827 homes in progress at the end of March 2022. Developing affordable housing in Fife, Perth & Kinross, Falkirk, and Clackmannanshire, both for Kingdom and for its partners, supports the Scottish Government’s Housing 2040 Strategy and its goal to deliver 110,000 affordable homes by 2032.
The record investment allows Kingdom to deliver a range of projects and house types that meet the identified housing needs in the communities where the association operates. While the majority of homes developed are for social rent, 116 mid-market rent properties were also completed. A development at Toll Road, Guardbridge started on site that will solely provide amenity bungalows for those with an accessible housing need, and 11 new family homes are being developed in Larbert which will be sold through the Scottish Government’s New Supply Shared Equity Scheme.
Bill Banks, Kingdom Group Chief Executive, said, “We pride ourselves on our collaborative approach to the delivery of affordable housing and have alliance agreements in place with Fife, Glen, and Ore Valley Housing Associations through the Fife Housing Association Alliance (FHAA) and Ochil View Housing Association in Clackmannanshire. During 2021/22 we completed 157 new homes for our partners including 33 homes for Ochil View, 24 homes for Glen HA, 35 homes for Ore Valley HA and 65 homes for Kingdom Initiatives.
The FHAA is the lead developer in Fife and Kingdom is the lead Registered Social Landlord (RSL) developer in Clackmannanshire. The remarkable scale of our development programme is only possible through close collaboration with the Scottish Government and other funding partners and our ambitious development plan is set to continue with plans to start on site this year with a further 514 new homes and complete 540.”
Kingdom’s plans for the future continue to focus on the association’s mission to deliver more than a home. In line with the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations’ Healthier Homes Initiative Kingdom has started a sensor technology pilot in some newbuild homes to monitor indoor air quality and energy use. This will not only help inform future design and specification, but will also allow for better engagement with tenants to help them maximise the benefits of their new home, including reducing energy wastage.
Julie Watson, Head of Capital Investment at Kingdom, added, “The scale of Kingdom’s development plan is unprecedented in our history and there have been some notable projects during the year. We completed the conversion of our former office building at Natal Place, Cowdenbeath into 2 flats for social rent and purchased 51 flats in Scone to deliver Kingdom’s first co-housing project. We started on site with 2 net-zero projects, including 30 homes in Gauldry for social rent comprising both family and amenity housing which is being built to both net-zero and Passivhaus standards.”
Sustainability and climate change remain important strategic objectives for Kingdom Housing Association with planned completions this year including at the former Tullis Russell paper mill site in Glenrothes where 85 social rent homes will use renewable heating from the local Glenrothes heat network and projects in Torryburn and Burntisland being built using off-site construction methods to increase energy efficiency and reduce environmental impact.