Residents co-create toolkit with settle for enhancing developments of new homes
We are delighted that settle residents have recently worked in partnership with us to influence new housing developments, ensuring they meet the requirements of a neighbourhood design approach residents helped to create.
Our new neighbourhood design toolkit, developed in partnership with the Voice of the Resident panel and Tpas, aims to help us develop high-quality, sustainable homes that residents can be proud of.
The toolkit provides a comprehensive framework for evaluating and informing future housing developments on aspects such as connectivity, movement of people, facilities, signage and integration with the wider neighbourhood.
Input from settle’s residents was integral to the creation of the toolkit. Members of the Voice of the Resident panel were deeply involved in creating the toolkit, participating in workshops and field trips, and collaborating with Tpas to ensure the toolkit reflects what matters most to residents.
Feedback from residents
We also conducted a survey of nearly 550 residents who had moved into new developments in the past two to five years, which revealed insights into their feelings about their homes and communities.
Findings highlighted the importance of community sense, pride in their neighbourhoods, and ease of navigation within their areas.
The first scheme assessed using the toolkit has been approved by our executive team at settle. This scheme was evaluated based on features highlighted by residents as essential, including accessible transport routes, green spaces, and community amenities.
Gavin Cansfield, Chief Executive at settle, said: “We are delighted to launch our neighbourhood design toolkit, which truly embodies our commitment to putting residents at the heart of everything we do and driving continuous improvements in our housing developments.
“The toolkit’s scoring mechanism ensures that we rigorously assess each new scheme against residents’ priorities and ensures new developments benefit the existing community as well as residents on the housing waiting list.
“It is a testament to the power of collaboration between our residents and our team, ensuring that our developments are not only high-quality and sustainable, but also places where people are proud to live.”
Voice of the Resident panel member Annette commented on behalf of the panel: “I was really pleased to be included with other Voice of the Resident panel members throughout this project. It was great to share our views. I’m proud of the toolkit we’ve helped create and that it will improve developments for future residents and the wider community.”
The Voice of the Resident panel is just one of the ways residents influence our work at settle. The panel work alongside other well-established resident voice initiatives, including the Big Door Knock, now in its sixth year, which sees settle colleagues including the Executive team and Board members visit residents every quarter to obtain valuable feedback on our homes and services.
Our Voice of the Resident panel has been instrumental in several other key initiatives, including feedback on the information we compiled for residents on ways they can make a complaint. We wanted to ensure the information was clear and aligned with the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code. The panel helped us complete the complaint handling code self-assessment and suggested various updates to make the information clearer, as well as producing a complaints leaflet and poster.
