SNG and The Hill Group Form Investment Partnership
SNG (Sovereign Network Group), one of England’s largest housing associations, has selected award-winning housebuilder The Hill Group as partner for an ambitious placemaking-focused strategic investment partnership.
The newly formed Sovereign Hill Partnership LLP (SHP) is an equal 50:50 limited liability partnership created following a selection process led by Arcadis. Hill were selected as the most suitable partner both culturally and commercially, along with their experience and success working in similar partnerships.
SNG is at the forefront of the housing association sector shift to bring greater focus to the creation of great places, as well as great homes. SNG’s Homes and Place Standard sets out its ambition for all its homes to be easier to maintain, cheaper to run and located in great places, alongside meeting its net-zero goals. This has in turn driven its long-term £8.6bn investment programme to make sure all its homes meet the standard, including the additional 25,000 homes it plans to build over the next ten years.
SNG recognises that collaboration will be key to delivering on these ambitions, and the new partnership with Hill is a major step in bringing together the necessary capacity, capability, and co-investment.
With placemaking at the heart of both organisations’ values, the Investment Partnership’s key objective is to regenerate urban brownfield sites. Working closely with current residents of Basingstoke, SHP aims to create vibrant places with successful local economies, providing jobs and learning opportunities in conjunction with wider environmental, health, and social benefits.
The first focus for the partnership will be the communities of Buckskin and South Ham, located to the west of Basingstoke town centre. These London ‘overspill’ estates were built between the 1950s and 1970s and share the challenges of many similar post-war housing estates. Many of the homes are becoming more challenging to maintain, and they are amongst the top 20% most deprived areas in the UK.
Tom Titherington, Chief Investment and Development Officer at SNG, said: “This partnership aligns with our bold ambition to build good quality, well-designed homes in sustainable communities for our customers whilst embedding our future vision towards net zero.
“It will significantly augment our Strategic Asset Management strategy, and the partnership will provide the capacity needed to deliver quality homes for our current and future customers using our sector-leading Homes and Place Standard.”
Andy Hill, Group Chief Executive at The Hill Group said: “We are delighted to be entering into this long-term strategic partnership with Sovereign Network Group and advancing with our plans to improve the lives of a great many people through a programme of high-quality regeneration. The coming together of Hill and Sovereign Network Group represents the start of an exciting period for their customers as we begin to collaborate on the delivery of sustainable new homes and high-quality places, which local communities can enjoy for many years to come.”
Richard Jones, Partner at Arcadis said: "We were delighted to work with Sovereign Network Group to identify the best partner for their Investment Partnership.
“This model of public-private partnerships offers a way to bring partnership ahead of project, enabling both parties to work together in the critical early stages of project development.
“The purpose-led cultural alignment of these two organisations, makes them an ideal fit to work together to address the challenges of large estates such as those in Basingstoke.”