Little by little, one travels far

Our history

While we may have had different names, our long-term commitment to people and places stretches back many decades.

1989

In 1989, Newbury District Council, now West Berkshire Council, decided to transfer its 7,109 homes into a brand new housing association. 

It was one of the first transfers in the country, and meant that the new West Berkshire Housing Association, under the guidance of Lady Celia Norrie and Betty Ridley, could take care and invest in the homes for the long-term.

1992

We set up our first Tenant Consultative Committee, designed to keep us connected with our communities and help us co-create quality services with residents. This commitment remains true today.

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1994

As we grew beyond our West Berkshire roots and began to build more new affordable homes too, we changed our name to Sovereign. But we had to ask the Queen for permission first!

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1997

We reached the 10,000 homes milestone - and we also sold our 1,000th home for shared ownership, giving people a more affordable way of buying their own home.

2005

So we could do more, we created Sovereign Housing Group as Twynham Housing Association joined us, with 2,500 homes in Christchurch, Dorset.

2007

Covering Oxfordshire, the Vale Housing Association, with 5,400 homes, joined Sovereign. 

2009

With 10,200 homes across Hampshire, Kingfisher HVHS joined the group.

2011

Soon it was time for us to come together under a single name, with Sovereign Housing Association bringing all the former organisations under one roof.

2016

Spectrum Housing Group, which had a long history of providing quality affordable homes across the south of England and the Isle of Wight, merged with Sovereign to create a brand new 55,000 home housing association.

2018

Mark Washer joins Sovereign as CEO.

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2023

SNG (Sovereign Network Group) was formed through the merger of Sovereign and Network Homes. 

The future

SNG has become one of the largest housing associations in the country, but we’ve held on to our local focus and our commitment to providing quality, affordable homes.