Impact Housing Association is launching their £25m investment improvement programme this month. This significant amount of investment is part of Riverside’s Partnership Pledge when Impact became a subsidiary of The Riverside Group in August of 2018 following an overwhelmingly positive vote by the association’s shareholders.
The partnership with Riverside will support Impact to modernise and improve their homes across the Cumbria region. Over the next three years the association will spend £25m in replacing and upgrading over 5,000 components to their customers’ homes including new kitchens, bathrooms and boilers. Improvements to the exterior of our homes will also be undertaken with the installation of modern windows, doors, the upgrading of roofs and decorative renders. Tenants will be able to select from a range of options for their new kitchens, including a choice of units, worktops, wall tiles and flooring. Bathrooms will also have options available for wall tiles and flooring.
Since the partnership began Impact have set up a new team within the business to develop, manage and deliver the investment programme. Over the past few months the team have been actively surveying customers’ homes to understand the issues and further develop the programme. These surveys will continue over three years of the programme to ensure all of Impact’s homes are visited.
Bryonie Shaw, Managing Director said: “I am absolutely thrilled to be able to announce the launch of our investment programme just a few months after Impact joined the Riverside Group. The investment in our homes and communities is welcomed by staff as well as tenants, and is the result of a lot of hard work by colleagues who recognise the importance of this work to those living in Impact homes. I am particularly pleased that we are able to use the £25million pledged by Riverside to work with local contractors and support the wider economy in Cumbria, and providing much needed apprenticeships to our young people.
Carol Matthews, Riverside Group Chief Executive added: “Our priority was to begin delivering the promises in our Partnership Pledge to Impact and its tenants and I am extremely proud to confirm we are honouring those commitments with the launch of this much needed £25 million investment programme.”
Impact are committed to use locally based contractors where available to deliver the programme which we anticipate will develop job and apprenticeship opportunities within local communities. As part of the investment programme, Bell Group Limited have been awarded the cyclical decoration contract over the next three years with an anticipated spend of up to £1.8m. Additionally, investment works have begun on site with re-roofing in Carlisle and the replacement of windows and doors in Distington.
From this month Impact will be writing to their tenants and meeting with resident groups to outline the proposed works to their homes. Impact’s website will be updated throughout this month with investment programme information which can be found at https://www.impacthousing.org.uk/stock-investment-programme.