New home for Sovereign

16th January 2019 

As it embarks on a new, five-year strategy to maximise its social impact, Sovereign has revealed the first step in its plans to rethink how it delivers its services, replacing 20 offices and depots with seven new, modern hubs.

The Head Office and customer contact team will move to a brand new building in Basingstoke, currently called The Florence Building, from late summer. Meanwhile a bespoke new operational hub will be built in Newbury, West Berkshire. 

All housing, property, development and community investment teams covering Hampshire and Berkshire will then be brought together when the new building is completed during 2020.

Many of Sovereign’s current 20 offices and depots are no longer fit for purpose and are not necessarily in the best locations to support resident services or its future larger and land-led development programme.

Over the next three years, Sovereign will bring teams together in seven modern hubs, which will create better places to work, improve services and reduce costs in the long-term.

Mark Washer, Sovereign’s Chief Executive, said: “Our new approach to the workplace is both modern and affordable, reflecting the latest thinking on workplace design so we can work differently, attracting and retaining the best people.

“This move is part of our wider strategy to work in a more agile and productive way, with residents and customers at the heart of what we do. By bringing teams together and putting our customer contact service teams in the centre of our organisation, we’ll be better placed to deliver a greater customer and employee experience.”

As well as investing in our offices and how we work, Sovereign’s new strategy includes:

• Maximising the social impact of everything it does, including tripling its investment in communities.
• Growing to meet housing need, taking more control and a greater land-led approach to development and building 1,900 new homes a year.
• Investing in quality, modern services and listening harder, embedding residents’ voices at the heart of its decision making.

The four existing offices and depots in Berkshire and Hampshire will close when teams have moved into the new and modern buildings. Sovereign will work with the local authority over future options for the sites. Plans for the remaining 16 offices and depots across the south and south west will be announced over the next two years.