Pip Prongué: Why delivering the homes we need requires a long-term approach
With record numbers of households living in temporary accommodation and an ongoing need for more affordable homes, increasing housing delivery remains one of the country’s biggest challenges.
In a new advertorial with Big Issue, Pip Prongué, Executive Managing Director of Wates Residential, shares her perspective on what needs to change to unlock the homes communities need, from tackling planning and viability challenges to creating greater long-term certainty for the sector.
The feature highlights how collaboration between the public and private sectors can help overcome some of the challenges facing housing delivery.
In Havering, east London, Wates and Havering Council have worked together to put to use a cleared regeneration site earmarked for future development. Eighteen modular homes now provide temporary accommodation to local Havering families on land that could otherwise have remained empty.
Elsewhere, Wates has worked with Brent Council and the Mayor of London in Wembley to deliver 291 homes, including 141 affordable homes. At Gorse Ride in Wokingham, the regeneration programme has also extended beyond new homes, with initiatives for residents including cooking classes, computer skills sessions and careers talks in local schools.
For Pip, this collaborative approach is essential.
“Regeneration is too complex for any one person or organisation to do on their own. Local authorities and housing associations bring the land, the local knowledge and the long-term vision. The private sector brings the investment and the delivery expertise.”
Pip Prongué, Executive Managing Director of Wates Residential
The feature also explores the wider role Wates plays in supporting communities, from building new homes to maintaining and improving existing social housing.
It reflects the long-term approach at the heart of Wates’ purpose to reimagine places for people to thrive, and our wider partnership with Big Issue, including our role as headline sponsor of its 100 Changemakers.
As Pip puts it: “Ultimately, people just need a home.”
Read the full Big Issue feature to hear more from Pip on the challenges facing housing delivery and why long-term thinking and partnership will be critical to addressing them.
Find out more about our partnership with Big Issue.
