Our development ambitions

Our development ambitions

Habinteg is an experienced provider of accessible homes throughout England and Wales, creating integrated communities where disabled and non-disabled people can live together as neighbours.

We are committed to building accessible homes of exemplar quality. Of the homes we develop, approximately 75% are built to Building Regulations M4(2) Category 2 (Accessible and adaptable dwellings) and 25% to M4(3) Category 3 (Wheelchair user dwellings).

As well as our expert development team, we benefit from the knowledge of our training and consultancy team, Centre for Accessible Environments, who are the UK’s leading authority on inclusive design in the built environment.

Our key growth areas

We are committed to growth in areas where we currently have a strong presence and established relationships. These areas are:

  • Leeds and Bradford
  • Cambridgeshire and Peterborough
  • Milton Keynes
  • the Bristol city region; and
  • the area inside and surrounding the M25, including areas of Essex and Kent

We are committed to adding value to the communities in which we develop homes, working with local SME contractors to ensure our homes are developed with local knowledge and expertise.

Please contact us if:

  • you are a local authority looking to partner with leading access experts on the delivery of accessible homes
  • you have land suitable for residential development
  • you have Right to Buy receipts that you are unable to spend currently

For more information on our development work contact Matt Kelly, Head of Development on mkelly@habinteg.org.uk or call 020 7822 8700.

For technical advice on the use of accessible design standards contact Habinteg’s consulting team, the Centre for Accessible Environments on 020 7822 8232 or email info@cae.org.uk.

Our homes

All the homes we build are accessible. More than a quarter are designed for wheelchair users, with the others built to be accessible and adaptable. Since 1994 that has meant meeting the Lifetime Homes accessibility standards or its successor, Building Regulations part M4 Category 2*. Lifetime Homes is a concept we developed alongside the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. It sets out 16 design criteria that ensure a new home is accessible, flexible to live in and can be easily adapted. These features create homes that accommodate the changing needs of a household – or many households - over time.

We are constantly working to improve the designs of our homes, to make them even more accessible, so that our tenants can live even more independent lives.

By building developments that integrate housing designed with both disabled people and non-disabled people in mind, we help minimise social exclusion, tackle the negative stereotypes that disabled people face and combat the isolation and segregation many experience.

Our approach also saves money. By building accessible and adaptable homes from the outset, we cut the cost of future adaptations if a tenant's needs should change. And by providing homes that support independence, we help disabled people stay out of more expensive institutionalised settings. Our Raynville Crescent scheme in Leeds is an example of this providing 11 houses built to the Lifetime Homes Standard and three Wheelchair standard bungalows. Read more about Raynville Crescent in our case study [pdf] 552KB here.

 

*In 2015 after Habinteg took part in a government review of housing standards, two new ‘optional’ access standard were introduced into Building Regulations Approved Document M. The ‘accessible and adaptable’ standard is largely equivalent to the Lifetime Homes standard, whilst Category 3 is a set of standards that make a home accessible for a wheelchair user.