Leading social housing provider and housebuilder Orbit, has been crowned Housing Association of the Year at the 2022 WhatHouse? Awards.

Orbit is one of the UK’s foremost housing groups with a growing portfolio of over 46,500 affordable and social rent homes, largely throughout the Midlands, East and South of England.

The prestigious award ceremony was held at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House Hotel in London, hosted by former leader of the Conservative Party, William Hague, and England Rugby World Cup winner and broadcaster, Maggie Alphonsi.

Explaining why Orbit was a deserving winner, the judges said:

“It’s been a strong year for Orbit. The Midlands-based housing association completed over 1,000 homes, started another 1,234 and has a five-year pipeline of 5,000 homes, including 1,500 through its latest £104m Strategic Partnership with Homes England. Forward sales are worth more than £50m. The £374m-turnover Group now manages 46,500 homes.

“A new tenure-blind design specification has been adopted, making sure all customers, whether social tenants or homeowners, get the same standard of home and service. As people continue to struggle in difficult economic circumstances, Orbit invested into its communities, including supporting individuals to reduce debt, providing 500 hardship grants, and supporting local social enterprises. It is also providing development services to help smaller housing associations to grow and offering Rent to Buy options for customers not quite ready to purchase but with aspirations to do so.”

Group director of Orbit Homes, Helen Moore, who accepted the award on behalf of the housing group, added:

“I’m extremely proud of this award. To be presented with the Gold Award for Housing Association of the Year is an outstanding achievement for our organisation. Over 100,000 people live in an Orbit home and our aim is to ensure the homes we provide and the places we create are good quality, affordable and safe.

“We play an active part in the neighbourhoods where we work, supporting local economies and social activity within communities. As a housebuilder and housing association, our commercial decisions are informed by our deep-rooted social purpose. We reinvest our profits to build more affordable homes, improve our services and supporting the sustainability of our communities, and where possible, we work with partners who also make a difference to our planet and our communities.”

The Housing Association of the Year category was sponsored by Reach.