We’re pleased to announce the appointment of our new Executive Director of Tenancy Services, Daren Nowlan. Daren brings a wealth of experience from his time as Housing Director at Sanctuary, one of the UK’s largest housing associations, and will be fundamental in the delivery of our next corporate plan, which will see us make our biggest ever investment in our existing homes and improve our digital offering to tenants. Daren will join us in February and work alongside David Taylor until he retires from full time work in April, after 16 years and an immense contribution to Midland Heart.
We’re working in partnership with Keon Homes Limited to deliver over 100 homes for social rent and around 20 for shared ownership, at Icknield Port Loop, Birmingham. This is an iconic housing development for the city, providing high-quality, energy efficient homes for local people. The construction of two-, three- and four-bedroom homes, as well as a small apartment block that straddles the canal corner, is already well underway. We can’t wait to start handing over these new homes in 2025, watch this space!
In preparation for our #COPEC100 centenary event last month, we worked with Maxmedia to create an exhibition stand of our history, retelling our story and the part our legacy organisations played in the development and provision of decent housing in the Midlands. Earlier this week we held a ‘Lunch & Learn’ event at our Bath Row office, giving colleagues the opportunity to walk down ‘memory lane’ and see the evolution of COPEC to Midland Heart. This travelling exhibition will also be showcased at our offices in Oldbury and Hinckley over the next few weeks. In looking back at what was created all those years ago, our colleagues feel even more empowered and motivated to make a difference to the lives of local people in our communities. Over the next few months, we will be hosting a variety of events and activities to celebrate 100 years of Midland Heart and the launch of our next corporate plan to 2030. Watch this space!
Earlier this year, we undertook a thorough audit of our Occupational Health and Safety as part of our commitment to keeping our colleagues safe while working, and ensuring our tenants receive the best possible service from us. We're thrilled to share that we've been awarded a best practice five star grading by the British Safety Council, recognising the industry-leading processes we have in place to keep our colleagues and tenants safe. This is a fantastic achievement and reinforces that safety is a key priority for us, in our offices, at our schemes and developments, and importantly, within our tenants’ homes.
Last week we were joined by our colleagues, tenants, partners, peers and friends, for a celebration of 100 years of Midland Heart at Birmingham Town Hall! Prof. Carl Chinn MBE told the fascinating story of our history and the development of housing in Birmingham over the last 100 years. West Midlands Mayor, Richard Parker, then took the stage to talk about the challenges facing housing providers in the present. Our guest panellists, Emeritus Professor David Mullins, Deirdre LaBassiere LL.B(Hons) FTLS, Gavin Smart and martin hilditch, Editor of Inside Housing, discussed the ways the sector can rise to these challenges and address the need for more decent, affordable homes in our region, just as the COPEC founders did all those years ago. Thank you to all of our wonderful guest speakers, and to all who joined us for this celebration of how far we’ve come. hashtag#COPEC100
In the early 90s, and after a series of mergers in the 70s and 80s, COPEC was renamed Focus Housing Association. Prime Focus was then set up as a new parent company to ensure the organisation continued to provide homes for people and offer related services for the benefit of tenants, staff, and partners. On 1st April 2006, Prime Focus and housing association Keynote Group, came together to form Midland Heart. Nearly 20 years on we have grown to a housing association of 35,000 homes, providing services to over 70,000 tenants. Thank you for joining us on this revisit of our past and we hope you stay with us as we look forward to the future. We’re still committed to the same social purpose as in 1925, and we will continue to work hard to provide decent, affordable homes for local people who need them, just as our founders did.
The next stop on our journey is the swinging 60s! Remember ‘Cathy Come Home’? Ken Loach’s portrayal of a family torn apart by homelessness had a profound effect on its audiences. Homelessness moved to the forefront of the public and political agenda, and with the spotlight on the slums, Housing Associations such as Coventry Churches HA, Midland Area HA, Wolverhampton HA, and Birmingham Housing Trust were founded as part of the response.
Today we're looking at 1950s Birmingham, the next chapter in our story. Families who had travelled to England to help repair the damage caused by the war were met with discrimination, with many, including those from Asia, Ireland and the Caribbean, refused accommodation. The lack of available and affordable housing meant that newcomers were forced to live in poor conditions. Families were often left with no choice but to share a single room with another family just to avoid being homeless. COPEC were committed to providing homes for them and worked hard to improve their living conditions and offer them a better quality of life.
Today we’re taking you further forward in time, looking at the 1930s and 40s and housing in the Midlands during the war years. The Second World War led to a significant loss of COPEC’s stock. COPEC changed from a ‘Public Utility Society’ to an ‘Industrial and Provident Society’, becoming eligible for war damage funding to make emergency repairs. Post-war, COPEC surrendered many of its properties as part of post-war redevelopment but remained a managing agent of those awaiting clearance by the council. Take a look at the larger image below from 1942, showing the aftermath of bomb damage in Long Acre, Birmingham, which is still one of our operating areas 80 years on.
Did you know, Midland Heart is almost 100 years old? We’ve not always been called Midland Heart, a number of different organisations have developed and merged over the years laying the foundation for us to become the organisation we are today. It’s been 100 years since the Conference on Politics, Economics and Citizenship (COPEC) was held in Birmingham that led to the founding of the COPEC House Improvement Society, the very first version of Midland Heart, in 1925. Since then, we’re proud to have grown from around 200 homes in inner-city Birmingham to over 35,000 across the whole of the Midlands. Over the next week, we're going to take you on a journey through our history and tell the story of how we became Midland Heart.
