Populo Living at our Housing 2024 discussions this October

Above- aerial view of the Carpenter's Estate, adjacent to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford - which is being regenerated by Populo Living for the London Borough of Newham (Image courtesy of Newham Council)

Future Cities Forum is delighted that Deborah ('Deb') Heenan, Chief Executive of Populo Living Group, Newham Council's housing company, will join our 'Housing, infrastructure, culture and communities' discussion at the Museum of the Home.

Under Deborah’s leadership, Populo has experienced substantial growth, emerging as one of the largest and most successful council-owned housing companies. Since 2018, the company has built and manages nearly 800 homes, with an additional 75 homes currently under construction. This achievement, Populo reports, underscores Deb and Populo's unwavering commitment to addressing the pressing issue of housing affordability in the borough. In the past 12 months alone, under Deb’s guidance, Populo has successfully added circa 300 properties to its portfolio, a testament to her leadership during challenging economic times.

Populo is re-developing the Carpenters Estate, a 28-acre estate next to Stratford station and Westfield Stratford City. First built in the 1960s, it’s been the subject of several stalled attempts to redevelop it. Now, in partnership with Newham Council, Populo is leading the delivery of a programme to transform The Carpenters, to provide more of the high quality homes the area needs, and it says:

'In a ballot held in late 2021, residents overwhelmingly backed a ground-breaking masterplan for the future of the Estate. The masterplan was co-produced by Populo and residents, and when complete will deliver:

• over 2,000 modern homes, 50% of which will be genuinely affordable

• 28,000 sqm of commercial space including a new building, crafts college, cafes, restaurants, shops, workshop space, and a hotel

• better connected streets, with a clear route to Stratford station and houses and maisonettes at the centre of the development with taller buildings towards the edge

• The regeneration is intended to support inclusive growth in Newham by providing hundreds of local jobs and apprenticeships, investment in local businesses through local procurement and new inward investment to the borough throughout its 15-year span.

  
  

Like all our work, the homes will be built with high quality materials, designed to last a lifetime. Many of the existing homes on The Carpenters, 44% (314) will be retained, including two of the estate’s iconic towers. These homes will be refurbished to offer more space and the high standards of energy performance that Newham Council requires, as part of its response to the climate emergency.'

Above: Deborah Heenan, CEO of Populo Living Group (courtesy Populo Living)

.At last year's Future Cities Forum on the Queen Elizabeth Park, Deborah responded to the question: How important has it been for housing companies to work with their communities over communication?

'We have definitely felt that more honest conversations with our communities has been the way forward but often people are saying that it is too good to be true. Once the Olympics was finished, we had to ask ourselves about what was going on. There were 'posh boy' flats and only a small number of council homes being built and we don't want that. We wanted to do something different and a joint venture with the council.

'The development partner needs to make a profit and we need some 'posh boy' flats to subsidise developments. But we do need to build in a sustainable way because of floods in the future. We are having much better dialogues with our communities and asking them about their different needs. We need to create balanced communities, for different people and different ages. One family for instance is a perfect example. The grandparents are helping out with childcare so their daughter can go to work, otherwise she would be on the dole. So that's an example of community housing where families can live long term together, without young people feeling they have to move on.'

Below: Deborah Heenan of Populo Living, third from right, at Future Cities Forum at Here East in 2023