Newlon Housing Trust won an award for its work
as a star player in the Arsenal Regeneration Team
(ART), which is creating a 21st century neighbourhood
around the new Emirates Stadium in Islington. “A very
good regeneration scheme with a ‘wow’ factor that has
delivered results very quickly,” said the judges.

The other main players in the team delivering Islington’s
biggest ever regeneration scheme are Arsenal FC and
the borough council. Partners who work with the team
include specialist housing associations, the police, the
health service, local schools and local residents’ groups.

Key elements in the scheme include 1,400 affordable
homes, among them 500 flats for key workers in Newlon’s
Ashburton Triangle development next to the new stadium.
All the affordable housing developments, which account
for nearly 50% of the new homes, are car-free.

The regeneration programme, which stretches across
brownfield sites in four of the most deprived wards
in England, also includes new office, commercial and
retail spaces, improvements to existing homes and
a new waste transfer station.

Newlon runs a small grants fund that supports local voluntary
and community organisations and was set up with
Neighbourhood Renewal fundi  ng and money from the
European Social Fund.

Through this work new residents’ groups have formed,
and ART works with the local education authority on
anti-bullying projects and to provide support for young
people who have been excluded from school or at risk
of exclusion.

Construction skills training for local unemployed people from the
regeneration area is provided through a partnership
with the Islington Employment Service and the London
Development Association.

Early community wins from the scheme include a
reduction in all categories of crime in the Arsenal
Regeneration Area in the 12 months from June 2006
to June 2007, even though the population has grown
by several thousand.

All in all, the judges were impressed by the way Newlon
works in a joined-up way with Arsenal and Islington
and the many other organisations on this large and
complicated scheme. “There is an obvious passion
among all Newlon staff for this project, and strong
corporate support.” The association’s contribution
to the scheme has been crucial, they added.