Housing partnership gets Royal seal of approval
A WEST Midlands housing partnership has been given the royal seal of approval after being officially presented with a Queen’s Award for Enterprise by HRH The Duke of Kent.
The Matrix Housing Partnership, which is led by the Accord Group, became the first housing association to receive the UK’s highest accolade for business earlier this year. It was honoured in the Sustainable Development category for its role as a social landlord, providing safe and sustainable housing.
The award was presented by the Duke of Kent as he visited the Accord Group’s LoCaL Homes factory in Walsall to see first-hand where many of the homes built by the partnership are manufactured.
The Duke met with representatives from the Matrix Housing Partnership, was taken on a tour of the factory and met residents from the nearby Innovation Way development.
Nicola Inchbald, chair of Matrix Housing Partnership, said: “We’re not only delighted to be the first ever housing association to be awarded with the Queen’s Award but to receive a visit from The Duke of Kent is the icing on the cake for us.
“The prestigious accolade is testament to the fantastic achievements of the partnership – providing top quality housing and meeting the needs of all of the customers in our region and we were delighted to meet The Duke of Kent and to share with him the great work of our partnership.”
The Queens Award recommendations committee, chaired by the Duke of Edinburgh, commended the Matrix Housing Partnership’s measures to reduce environmental impact, increase its customers’ income and create employment and training opportunities.
Also commended was the home building programme, which has seen the successful completion of over 800 new homes over the past year, helping to deliver much needed affordable housing in the region, as well as stimulating growth and jobs.
The Matrix Housing Partnership is made up of the Accord Group, Rooftop, Trent and Dove, Trident Social Investment Group as well as WATMOS Community Homes and Black Country Housing Group. Together the partnership manages more than 30,000 homes and provides a range of services to people across the West Midlands.
