Affordable housing in Oxford’s a winner!

Housing association Peabody and OX Place’s new affordable homes for Oxford have been recognised with two national awards at the prestigious Inside Housing Development Awards (IHDA) 2023.

Published: 12/10/2023

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Peabody scooped the prize for best shared ownership development in Newman Place, Littlemore. While Oxford City Council’s housing company were winners in the best development team (rural/suburban) category.

Newman Place is a 100 percent affordable scheme, providing 162 homes for shared ownership and 111 for social rent.

OX Place’s development of 38 affordable homes at The Curve on Between Towns Road was highly commended in the best development (0-100 homes) category.

Newman Place was also shortlisted for best development (101-500 homes).

IHDA 2023 was judged by a panel of housing industry experts. For Peabody’s Newman Place development, the judges commented: "We can't fault this development - to make it 100% shared ownership for a huge range of different needs, in a traditionally unaffordable area, whilst also ensuring the design enhances the landscape and responding to the heritage, is really well done.”

On OX Place’s award for best development team, they said: “The team demonstrated key delivery outputs and it was great to hear the community voice in their submission. The panel were particularly impressed with the number of residents from the Oxford area that they were able to support through full time work or work experience and their ‘Building Lives Academy’. The partnership with Springhill Prison was also felt to be unique. The team demonstrated a drive to deliver homes sustainably benefitting the residents and the wider community.”

Simon Barry, Regional Managing Director (New Homes) at Peabody, said: “There’s a real shortage of affordable homes in Oxford so we hope the 273 new social and shared ownership homes just four miles south of the city centre will make a positive difference for local families.

“Oxford is a world-class city and excellent place to live, but this also makes it challenging to deliver genuinely affordable homes.  Average house prices are more than 17 times the average salary in the city, so we’re pleased that 162 households have the opportunity to get on the property ladder here through shared ownership.

“It's fantastic to see Newman Place win the best shared ownership development award, as well as being shortlisted for a second. But most importantly, these residents love where they live at a price they can afford.”

Linda Smith, cabinet member for housing, said: “Providing more affordable housing is one of our top priorities, and I’m thrilled to see our housing company and partner Peabody getting well-deserved recognition for their efforts.

“Developments like Newman Place and The Curve are important contributions to our four-year target of 1,600 new affordable homes by the end of 2025/26. Each one of these makes a life-changing difference to people’s lives.”

Helen Horne, managing director of OX Place, said: “I’m incredibly proud of our hard-working development team. It’s great to see them get the acknowledgement they deserve for delivering design-led, sustainable and affordable homes for people in Oxford.”

Notes for editors

About Peabody   

More than 160 years after it was established, Peabody is one of the oldest not-for-profit housing associations in the UK.   

The Peabody Group is responsible for more than 107,000 homes, with around 220,000 residents across London and the Home Counties. We also have around 17,000 care and support customers.  

Our purpose is to help people flourish, and we are getting closer to residents by taking a local approach.   

We are committed to delivering a responsive and easily accessible repairs service and investing in our existing homes so they are safe and well maintained. Our retrofit projects will make thousands of our homes more energy efficient.  

We work with councils and communities to promote economic inclusion, tackle inequality and poverty, and prioritise wellbeing.  

Our rents were £621m lower than the market in 2022/23. With an average rent of £127 per week in London and the south-east, we offer significant value for residents and communities. 

We are also committed to building much-needed affordable homes.   

About OX Place

Set up in 2016, OX Place – pronounced Oh Ex Place – is Oxford City Council’s wholly-owned housing company. OX Place aims to build more than 2,000 new homes for rent and sale in and around Oxford by the end of the decade. These will include more than 1,100 genuinely affordable council homes, together with more than 300 shared ownership homes.

OX Place’s commitment to delivering affordable homes means it is unlocking the potential of brownfield and small infill sites purely commercial developers would not consider viable.