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11.11.2014

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Joint statement from Housing for Women and Women’s Pioneer Housing

2.10.2019

After very careful consideration, the Boards of both Women’s Pioneer Housing and Housing for Women have decided that the full benefits of merger cannot be realised at this time and have therefore agreed not to progress their plans to merge and instead to focus on their own key priorities.

However, we will be continuing to work together to raise awareness of the importance of safe, secure, truly affordable housing for women. Denise Fowler and Zaiba Qureshi will continue as co-chairs of the Women’s Housing Forum.

Zaiba Qureshi, Chief Executive of Housing for Women, said: “Housing for Women’s priority is driving up service delivery for our customers together with the development of specialist services for women across London. We have an ambitious agenda on both fronts, and we are now looking forward to delivering our Business Plan.”

Denise Fowler, Chief Executive of Women’s Pioneer Housing said: “Women’s Pioneer’s priority is to deliver more high-quality homes and services for women in London, including our flagship development at Wood Lane. We look forward to celebrating our centenary in 2020 and continuing to fulfil the vision of our founders.”

Residents and staff remember Grenfell, two years on

14.06.2019

We are remembering the 72 people who lost their lives in the Grenfell Tower two years ago along with their families and friends.

Staff of Women’s Pioneer Housing will be marking the day by being part of Green for Grenfell day. They will wear an item of green clothing and will make a donation to the Support 4 Grenfell Community Hub.

We offer our condolences for those who have lost loved ones and share the sense of sadness and grief that continues to be felt through our community.

Once again, we would like to reassure our residents who may have concerns of the importance which Women’s Pioneer places on fire safety.

All our homes have current fire and gas safety certificates and comply with all other safety standards.

We reviewed our safety procedures following the fire and we are committed to listening to our residents. If a resident has any questions or concerns that they wish to raise then contact an estate officer, phone or email WPH or alternatively use social media.

Joint Press Release

3.05.2019

The respective Boards of Women’s Pioneer Housing and Housing for Women have agreed to explore a potential merger between the two organisations. We are the two largest women’s housing associations but we are acutely aware that the demand for homes and support services for women in London far exceeds what either organisation can provide alone.

It is felt that a merger could enable us to

  • Create greater financial and operational capacity to be able to deliver high quality homes and the services that make a big difference to women’s lives
  • Provide wider housing solutions and choices for women in London needing homes and support services now and in the future
  • Be a stronger voice for women’s housing in the sector, challenging others to do more to meet women’s housing needs

Both organisations will be working together with residents/service users and other stakeholders to explore whether a merger would enable us to provide a stronger housing offer and support services to women in London.

For further information, please contact [email protected]

For any press queries, please contact Chris Smith – [email protected] 

Notes to Editors

Both Women’s Pioneer Housing and Housing for women are specialist housing associations providing homes and services to women.

 

Women’s Pioneer Housing

  • Women’s Pioneer Housing is a registered social housing provider whose vision is to make a positive difference to women’s lives.
  • Women’s Pioneer Housing owns and manages around 1,000 homes for women in London including leasehold and sheltered housing
  • Women’s Pioneer prioritizes single women who are unable to access suitable long-term accommodation elsewhere, including women on low incomes, homeless women and women escaping domestic abuse or sexual violence.
  • Women’s Pioneer has an ambitious development programme, actively building many new homes for women.
  • For more information about Women’s Pioneer Housing , visit www.womenspioneer.co.uk/.

 

Housing for Women

  • Housing for Women is a charity and housing provider with a mission to empower women and challenge inequality.
  • Housing for Women owns and manages around 900 homes for women and their families in London.
  • Housing for Women also provides specialist services both accommodation based and in the community including those that support women and children escaping domestic abuse, survivors of trafficking, women leaving prison and older women.
  • For more information about Housing for Women, visit https://hfw.org.uk/.

 

Our Waiting Lists are now closed

1.04.2019

Our waiting lists are now closed and we will begin processing applications Tuesday 16 April. We will re-open the waiting lists 1st April 2020 for two weeks.

If you are in housing need, please contact your local authority.

 

 

 

 

Women’s Pioneer join forces with HUB and Bridges for £80m redevelopment of our West London site

12.02.2019

Our Wood Lane site

Press Release

February 2019

Immediate release 

Specialist housing association Women’s Pioneer Housing (WPH) has selected HUB and Bridges Fund Management to redevelop a key site on Wood Lane, White City, in an innovative partnership that will deliver a substantial new residential building, as well as 80 new homes for WPH residents, more than doubling the number currently on site.

Following a competitive OJEU procurement process, WPH, which provides affordable housing for women, selected developer HUB and specialist social impact investor Bridges as its development partners for the site, which is ideally located immediately opposite the new Imperial North Campus and just north of the redeveloped BBC Television Centre.

The 0.54 acre site currently consists of various buildings owned and operated by WPH, including 36 homes and the housing association’s head office. The partnership will see HUB and Bridges deliver a substantial new residential building on the site, plus 80 new homes and a new office HQ for WPH. Newground Architects has been appointed to work up designs for the scheme, which will be WPH’s largest redevelopment project to date.

Under the partnership, HUB and Bridges will develop a new building with a long leasehold and WPH will retain the freehold for the site and its own residential units. The partners are currently exploring a range of options for the development, including a specialist co-living product. The total number of residential units is still being determined.

Denise Fowler, CEO of Women’s Pioneer Housing, said: “It’s nearly a century after Women’s Pioneer Housing was founded, and women are still facing economic disadvantage in finding suitable housing at reasonable rents. We are excited to work with HUB and Bridges in achieving our vision, by offering around 80 new safe, secure affordable homes, designed for women. This scheme will provide much needed housing for a wide range of women, providing security for those who need the flats long term and a springboard for those whose incomes rise as they progress in their careers.

Sue Hockett, Director of Property Services, said: “This ‘land for flats’ development is an innovative solution, enabling us to build homes without grant or loan funding. Following a long and rigorous procurement process, we are delighted to have found our ideal development partners. HUB and Bridges have experience of working collaboratively with their partners and have committed to working closely with us through each stage of this project to provide high quality homes designed to be flexible in use and to build improved offices for our team.”

Steve Sanham, Managing Director of HUB, said: “This is a really exciting development to be involved in and presents an opportunity to deliver something very special for Women’s Pioneer Housing and the local community. We will be working very closely with our partners and local stakeholders to develop a scheme that complements the area, mediating between the scale of Imperial North Campus and the local neighbourhood. We believe very strongly in working closely with communities and will soon be undertaking an intensive process of engagement that will help us create a successful, thoughtfully designed mixed-tenure development on this important site.”

Simon Ringer, Head of Property Funds at Bridges Fund Management, said: “This is an excellent site in a prominent location. In the last few years we’ve partnered with HUB on a number of successful lower-cost housing developments in London, and this new scheme is a natural follow-on from those. We look forward to delivering more much-needed residential accommodation for Londoners, utilising the latest sustainable design and construction methods wherever possible.”

HUB and Bridges are jointly developing a number of lower-cost housing developments across Greater London, in line with Bridges’ focus on investing in needs-driven sectors and emerging locations. These projects are on course to deliver over 1,500 homes with a combined value of over £500m.

ENDS

For more press information on HUB please contact:

Rebecca Kalra ING media

T: +44 (0) 20 7247 8334

[email protected]

 

NOTES TO EDITORS

Women’s Pioneer Housing

 Founded in 1920 by suffrage campaigners, Women’s Pioneer Housing is an independent, women’s-only housing association with a vision of making a positive difference to women’s lives.

Nearly a century after Women’s Pioneer was first established, women are still facing particular disadvantages in finding secure and affordable housing. Our mission is to provide homes and services to offer independent women a springboard to achieving their potential – and we aim to influence others to do the same.

We own and manage just over 1000 socially rented properties across London, with plans to grow by 15% over the next five years. We empower our residents to live independent lives, and support them in doing so.

We are currently working on a Heritage Lottery funded project, “Pioneering Courage: Housing and the new working woman 1919-1939”. This will delve into our history, and establish the link between the suffrage movement and affordable, good quality housing.

www.womenspioneer.co.uk

[email protected]

@womenspioneer

HUB

HUB is an experienced, people-centred developer delivering thoughtfully designed homes and places in well-connected locations.

The company was set up in 2012 with the recognition that too many of today’s developments are not accessible to the majority of people in the UK. With a pipeline of over 2,500 homes, both for sale and rent, HUB is going some way to make up for the shortfall. Beyond supplying well-designed homes, HUB’s focus centres on providing spaces for local communities to engage, interact and grow. To achieve this, HUB carries out extensive public consultations and community engagement programmes and offers local employment and training schemes across its sites.

HUB’s developments include Taberner House and the redevelopment of the popular Queen’s Gardens in Croydon; The Boiler House and Material Store on the grounds of the former EMI factory in Hayes; the Rehearsal Rooms in North Acton, one of London’s first institutionally-backed PRS schemes; and Hoola London, a residential scheme heated by excess energy from the neighbouring ExCel, at the Royal Victoria Dock.

@HubResiLondon

HUB Group UK

Bridges Fund Management

 Bridges Fund Management (“Bridges”) is a specialist fund manager focused exclusively on sustainable and impact investing – using commercial investment strategies to generate attractive financial returns alongside positive, measurable social and environmental impact.

The Bridges Property Funds target niche real estate opportunities driven by demographic shifts and changing consumer needs in areas like healthcare, education, SME business space and affordable residential accommodation.

www.bridgesfundmanagement.com

@bridgesfundmgmt

 

 

 

 

 

 

Women’s Housing Forum debut event!

24.01.2019

Women’s Pioneer Chief Executive Denise Fowler co-chairs the Women’s Housing Forum (WHF) with Housing for Women’s Chief Executive Zaiba Qureshi. We believe that housing is a feminist issue, and so the vision of the forum is a place where everyone who cares about women’s housing can have an equal voice and come together to tackle the structural inequality that women face.

We are delighted to say that the inaugural meeting of the forum, which took place Friday 18th January 2019, was a storming success! We sold out of tickets for the event days in advance, and even had people on the waiting list! Women – and a few men – joined us from across the country to discuss and raise awareness of women’s housing needs.

We had fantastic support from women in the sector and those with lived experience, running 3 workshops: Women & Design; Women, Young Girls & Homelessness, and Domestic Abuse & Housing. These workshops were to facilitate discussion and generate ideas on what the forum can seek to do to improve women’s issues in housing across those three areas. We shared factsheets on each topic, and research the National Housing Federation produced for the forum on Women, Money and Housing. Find that research here.  

There was a buzz unique to this event, everyone was open, friendly and eager to talk about women’s housing. Denise in her closing remarks pinpointed perhaps why it felt different: “No-one was here to promote themselves. No-one was here to talk about their idea and not listen to anyone else“.

Our hashtags (#WHFJan19 and #HousingIsAFeministIssue) and twitter feed (@womens_housing) BLEW UP on Friday. We now have over 700 twitter followers – we gained about 200 from Friday alone. We are going to build on this momentum. Chief executives of the National Housing Federation and the Chartered Institute of Housing Kate Henderson and Terrie Alafat – both of whom gave speeches on Friday – gave us the support of their organisations, telling the room that women’s housing is a priority for them. We got great feedback in the “Next Steps” session – and so the next step for the Women’s Housing Forum’s steering group will be to decide which direction to go in. Do we become a membership organisation, fundraise, seek more sponsors?

The steering group for the forum are compiling a report to summarise the day and outline our next steps to everyone interested in the forum, which will be updated via twitter and the WHF website. Watch this space!

Estate Services Officer vacancy

23.01.2019

Women’s Pioneer Housing has a rich history of housing women for almost 100 years. Our values, co-created with our staff and residents, reflect both our history and our future: Positivity, Integrity, One team, Never forgetting the customer, Equality, Empowerment and Responsibility.

In 2019, we are embarking on an exciting period of change and modernisation to our services. We have established a new patch-based working approach where frontline staff work as one team helping each other to deliver high quality services and support our residents’ independence and well-being.

We are looking for a part time Estate Services Officer to work on a patch of around 150 households in West London. This role requires you to work collaboratively with your colleagues in Housing Management, Repairs, and Sheltered Housing to provide a resident focused estate service. This is an exciting and varied role and a rare opportunity to join a specialist organisation who champions women’s housing issues.

You don’t need to have estate services experience to join us but you should have an understanding of the estate services we provide, the ability to work on your own initiative, a capacity to learn and a passion for women’s housing issues. We will provide a comprehensive induction with an opportunity to learn, develop and drive your own work.

We also offer a brilliant benefits package:

  • 26 days annual leave plus bank holidays
  • A generous pension scheme
  • Other benefits set out in terms and conditions
  • TOIL in respect of hours worked outside set hours.

Deadline for applications is Monday 4th March. We will be holding interviews for this role on Monday 11th and Tuesday 12th March.

How to apply:

Please apply via JobsGoPublic here: https://www.jobsgopublic.com/vacancies/59328 

Closing date to be confirmed.

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