Our Strategy and Objectives
Muircroft Board Away Day - September 2025.
The Muircroft Board held their Away Day in September 2025 to focus on developing a business strategy for the next 5 years.
It reviewed our purpose and agreed that ...
"Our purpose is to meet housing need by providing safe,
high-quality, affordable homes where people truly love to live."
At the October 2025 Board meeting, it was agreed that the organisation would work towards delivering 3 strategic objectives, covering a wide range of actions and improvements. These are listed below.
1.1 Safe, Quality Homes
- Ensure all existing homes are safe, secure, and meet high-quality standards.
- Prioritise building safety works.
- Maintain compliance with the Decent Homes Standard.
- Carry out Decent Homes works on empty properties if due within 5 years, or where internal quality standards would otherwise not be met.
1.2 Homes People Love to Live In
- Invest in comfortable, attractive communal areas and grounds that foster pride and belonging.
- Actively involve tenants in decisions about work to their homes, ensuring transparency and mutual agreement.
1.3 Customer Service Excellence
- Exceptional customer service is at the HEART of everything we do.
- Adopt the Mary Gober International (MGI) Customer Service Excellence Programme to transform service culture.
- Become more customer-led in governance and decision-making, using Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) to drive improvement.
1.4 Tenant Engagement and Influence
- Recognise tenant engagement as essential to delivering homes people love to live in.
- Continue involving tenants in service design and communicate openly about proposed changes.
1.5 Independent Benchmarking
- Work with EROSH to assess and achieve Independent Living Services Standard accreditation to provide assurance to our tenants.
1.6 Energy Efficiency and Sustainability
- Commit to achieving EPC Band C for all homes by 2030, where feasible.
- Review retrofit options for heating and hot water systems, especially in communal settings.
- Balance carbon reduction goals with affordability for tenants, recognising responsibilities as a heat network operator.
- Ensure meaningful tenant consultation on any changes to heating and hot water systems.
- Support the Net Zero agenda and act responsibly to meet obligations.
1.7 Working with Trusted Suppliers
- Value long-term partnerships and the social value of supporting local businesses.
- Ensure all contractors meet regulatory and compliance standards and deliver quality outcomes.
- Apply a “60% Quality / 40% Cost” model when procuring new contracts.
2.1 Our Purpose: Helping People in Housing Need
- Honour our founding vision from Hythe & District Rotary (1971) to support older people in housing need.
- Embrace the challenge to tackle broader housing needs and ensure Muircroft remains a viable and responsive social landlord.
2.2 Future Business Growth
- Take a pragmatic, sustainable and robust approach to new development options appraisal.
- Explore opportunities within one hour’s travel of SO45 for operational efficiency.
- Explore options to develop and / or manage new homes that meet local housing need.
- Explore regeneration opportunities to provide new homes where our existing buildings are no longer viable or as part of major works.
2.3 Funding Additional Homes Development
- Explore funding sources such as Government Grants and institutional borrowing based on equity and future income.
- Protect financial viability while using reserves and income to conduct feasibility studies for potential projects.
A Viable Social Landlord
3.1 Financial Viability
- Review our 30-year financial plan in 2026 to inform strategic planning and risk management.
- Continue to deliver value for money by:
- Benchmarking costs and performance against similar providers via the Acuity Benchmarking Club.
- Maximising the impact of every pound spent by reviewing contracts and service models for efficiency and affordability.
- Using procurement frameworks or specialist procurement advisors to secure compliant contracts, competitive pricing and social value.
- Engaging tenants in value-for-money discussions as part of service reviews.
- Publishing an annual Value for Money Statement.
3.2 Strategic Direction
- Review and refresh our purpose and strategy annually via a Board Away Day.
- Align operational plans with long-term strategic goals, maintaining a live operational business improvement plan.
3.3 Risk Management
- Monitor strategic risks through a live risk register to ensure proactive mitigation.
3.4 Strong Board Leadership and Governance
- Ensure the Board has the right mix of skills, experience, and diversity through regular reviews.
- Support Board members with ongoing training and sector knowledge development.