Hopestead has won the ‘Best Use of an Emerging Technology in Housebuilding’ award at the Housing Digital Awards, which took place last night in Birmingham. The award was for Hopestead Place, a joint project with Emmaus Suffolk and New Meaning Foundation (NMF), which saw the installation of two modular homes to provide accommodation for individuals transitioning out of homelessness to Emmaus’ site in Ipswich.
The homes themselves were built by Cambridge charity New Meaning Foundation (NMF) using Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) to ensure efficiency and affordability, who also provided training and education for disadvantaged young people to construct the homes. The use of this emerging technology and the social impact of the project were the main factors that the judging panel agreed warranted the win.
Collecting the award were our CEO Marie-Claire Delbrouque, Emmaus Suffolk CEO Claire Staddon, and NMF CEO John Evans.
Marie-Claire said: “It’s a real honour to be recognised for this partnership with Emmaus and New Meaning Foundation in delivering creative solutions to ending homelessness. We know the conventional approaches to tackling homelessness aren’t working, and this is why we’re carrying out life-changing projects like this that use innovative technology to deliver something with huge social impact. Everyone deserves a place to call home and I hope we can see more and more forward-thinking solutions like this in the future.”
Claire said: “To be recognised by our peers in the housing sector for the fact that everyone not only deserves the dignity of their own front door but that their home should be aspirational is an honour. Hopestead, as a funder, are innovative and brave with how they want to bring change to this challenging sector. It has been a privilege to work with everyone in this project and more importantly to provide award-winning housing to those in most need.”
John said: “I am incredibly proud that our New Meaning design has been recognised as an innovation in the ex-homelessness sector; and super proud of all the trainees and employees who have moved into work with us from backgrounds of homelessness, poverty and trauma. These colleagues are an inspiration and show that anyone can change the direction of their life with enough ambition and determination.”
The Hopestead Place project is the first completed under Hopestead’s ‘Building Hope’ initiative, which seeks to provide bed spaces and/or additional accommodation for those experiencing homelessness in the east of England with the ultimate goal of creating long-term solutions to tackle the underlying causes of homelessness, as well as the issue itself.