A reflection on collaboration, customer care, and bringing patient capital to help build affordable homes
By Georgia Kirby-Watt, Operations Director – Affordable Housing, Octopus Capital
A different kind of investor
Over the past 18 months, I’ve been part of building something new at Octopus Capital, a for-profit affordable housing platform grounded in purpose and values.
We started with a simple belief: that institutional capital can support more affordable homes without undermining the values that have shaped the sector for decades. That takes trust — and time.
NewArch, our Registered Provider, is growing quickly. From the start, our focus has been on getting the how right. That means building partnerships that last, listening to residents, and investing in homes and services that deliver long-term value — both social and financial.
I know that some in the sector remain cautious about what it may mean to work with a “for-profit”. That’s understandable.
But our experience has been very positive. This is a reflection on our first year, what we’ve learned, and why we believe there’s room for a different kind of collaboration.
What we’ve learned in our first year
NewArch now manages more than 500 homes and is on course to reach 1,000 in 2026, with funding secured to scale well beyond that. It’s an exciting milestone, but also a moment to pause and take stock.
For us, growth only works if it’s underpinned by shared values and clear accountability.
We’ve seen first-hand how strong partnerships, based on trust and aligned ambition, create the space for both innovation and assurance – a challenge for many housing associations which are financially stretched or structurally too complex to innovate and scale at ease.
We believe that we have to continuously earn our place at the table. We’re held to high standards, and rightly so. Our partnerships must deliver for residents, as well as our investors. We maintain both regulatory compliance and aspire to deliver strong resident outcomes to uphold our social impact credentials and investor confidence. That pressure isn’t a burden. It’s our business model.
There’s a strong link between investing only in high quality homes, achieving good resident outcomes, and financial performance. We don’t just accept that — we build around it, and it’s a key reason our investors chose to partner with Octopus to deliver their long-term objectives – namely to invest in investments that can deliver long term sustainable income, but impact as well.
The best partnerships start with listening
Over the past year, we’ve spoken with a wide range of housing associations — from early-stage conversations to active delivery. The best partnerships have all started in the same place: listening.
We look for organisations with a clear sense of identity and strong operational foundations. The things we value most in a partner often include:
- Good data infrastructure and assurance processes
- Shared values and long-term outlook
- Confidence to challenge us when needed
- A culture of listening to residents, and acting on what they say
- An openness to learn and evolve
No two housing associations are the same — and sometimes, even different teams within the same organisation operate in very different ways. That’s why we always aim for a collaborative approach where possible, to ensure our high service standards are being met in a way that’s aligned to our partner’s aspirations.
We’re outcome-focused, not process-led. If something doesn’t improve the resident experience or give us useful assurance, we don’t ask for it.
Learning from CHP
Our partnership with Chelmer Housing Partnership (CHP) in Essex has shaped much of our thinking.
CHP brought deep local knowledge, strong resident relationships, and a clear operational identity. Their team stayed on to manage the homes after transfer — and that continuity made a real difference. In resident consultations, it was clear how highly CHP was regarded. Our job was to make sure that trust continued under NewArch ownership.
What made the partnership work wasn’t just delivery. It was the culture: CHP understood their strengths, set clear boundaries, and approached the relationship with openness and integrity. They didn’t work with us to tick a box — they did it because it felt like the right thing for their residents.
That foundation made everything else possible, and we’re pleased that it’s led to exciting conversations with other forward-looking organisations.
What organisations like ours can offer
Of course, there’s still a perception in some corners of the sector that for-profits are not driven by values, but solely by short-term return. That hasn’t been our experience.
NewArch is supported by Octopus Capital, part of the B Corp-certified Octopus Investments group that launched Octopus Energy and is over 60% owned by current and past employees. Our B Corp certification matters. It means we consider people, the planet, and profit in every decision we make. It’s not just branding — it’s how the business is run.
Our investors include local government pension schemes whose members receive our ‘new home’ efficiency margin. They expect social value to sit alongside financial return.
Together, we bring:
- Long-term, patient capital
- Flexibility to build around our partners
- A track record in impact-led investing
- Operational understanding, not just funding
- A strong focus on environmental performance — because energy-efficient homes reduce costs for residents and risks for us
We’re not here to buy up portfolios for the sake of scale. We’re here to work with organisations that know their stock and communities — and want to grow without overextending.
We’re most interested in high quality houses and low-rise apartments where the existing landlord wants to stay involved as the manager. When that’s in place, we can help unlock further investment to help recapitalise partners so they can continue to build new homes, ideally partnering together on future developments as well.
Closing thoughts
Working directly with investors like Octopus might not have been on your radar. But the lines in this sector are shifting, and the old assumptions don’t always hold.
What matters most is whether homes are well-managed, residents are supported, and new affordable homes can be delivered.
We’ve learned that managing affordable housing well is complex, emotive and ever-evolving; but the regulation itself and the values-driven organisations in our sector make an attractive foundation for social impact investment.
Digital maturity allows each side of the partnership to focus more on residents, because assurance can be built into the reporting. Finally, we’ve learned that we need to know the teams that know our customers, if we want visibility of what is happening on the ground.
To find out more, get in touch at [email protected].
