Design & IT

 

Pulling out all the stops

A year of unprecedented levels of work has seen the design team looking after up to £50 million worth of work on site and providing a full range of building design, surveying and management to housing associations, and other organisations.

 

However, NCHA’s development programme accounted for the lion’s share of the department’s output during the year, and it worked on several major schemes for the Association in urban and rural areas, among them: 

Arthur’s Court, Sleaford : Designed by the team, it is a scheme of 21 riverside flats for the over-55’s on the site of a builder’s yard in the middle of the town’s conservation area. NCHA’s third scheme in the Sleaford area.

 

Hartington Street, Loughborough : A pretty canal-side scheme of 37 affordable homes on a brownfield site. An existing warehouse converted to a mix of affordable homes including a couple of larger ones to cater for the needs of the local community. Some of the homes in the conversion have state-of-the-art photovoltaic panels.

There are also a number of new built units – two to cater for wheelchair users and some smaller apartments for shared ownership to enable first-time buyers to get on the first rung of the property ladder, in a university town that is becoming increasingly expensive and difficult for low-wage earners to afford.

The Fabric Building, Leicester : The conversion of a  handsome Victorian factory to produce 40 for rent, sale and shared ownership properties in a regeneration area. Designed by the team and winner of a Green Apple Award.

 

Highfield Drive, Bakewell : 36 stone-built houses sensitively designed by the team to fit into the Peak Park surroundings.

 

In another major piece of work, the Design department completed the EU tendering regulations work on behalf of the 15-strong housing association bidding partnership NCHA leads with the Longhurst Group. The partnership now has a panel of contractors with EU framework agreements in place until 2010.

 

 

The IT team completed a bundle of major projects over the year, including the introduction of a Voice Over IP system that replaced the telephone system with telephone calls by internet, saving the Association £200,000 a year on telephone bills and rental charges.

 

The team is also responsible for the technical development of the award-winning SMaRT service for supported housing schemes. It also introduced Sharepoint into NCHA, a web-based file sharing and intranet system.

 

Further reading
For more information about NCHA’s Design and IT departments work over the past year, please read the press releases below:
 
12th July 2007: Robin Hood opens new £5 million housing scheme
4th July 2007: Award-winning Leicester development opens

19th June 2007: Historic Leicester landmark receives national recognition

23 May 2007: SMaRT thinking wins national award
23rd March 2007: MP to open £15 million affordable homes

20 December 2006: ’Roof top’ power seminar
22nd September 2006: Gordon goes back to old stomping ground

 

 

Click here to return to the Annual Report 2007.