Anchor signs the Healthy Homes Pledge

Anchor, England’s largest not-for-profit provider of housing and care for people in later life, celebrated signing up to the TCPA Healthy Homes Pledge this week, at an event hosted at by the TCPA at the House of Lords to launch their new publication Campaign for Healthy Homes. 

By signing up to the Healthy Homes Pledge, Anchor is committing to making sure every new home built supports the long term physical, mental and social wellbeing of residents.

The pledge includes 12 Healthy Homes Principles, which go beyond standard building rules. These principles ensure all new homes are future ready, with good air quality, plenty of natural light and strong climate resilience to reduce risks such as heat stress and respiratory illness.

Signing the pledge shows Anchor’s commitment to wellbeing and creating spaces that enable people to live independently for longer. By improving individual wellbeing, reducing avoidable NHS usage, and supporting timely hospital discharges- through interventions like falls prevention and early support- we deliver meaningful outcomes for individuals and savings for the system. 

This commitment supports Anchor’s Development Growth Strategy, which aims to deliver an average of at least 500 new homes each year, with at least 70% offered for social rent. Our upcoming developments will reflect these improved standards of quality, comfort and inclusivity.

Putting the Healthy Homes Principles into practice, Oliver Boundy, Executive Director of Development says:

We’ve already made strong progress in designing homes that meet future needs, and adopting the Healthy Homes Principles builds on this work. As a specialist provider of housing for older people, we make sure our developments promote safety, comfort and long term wellbeing, and are built in locations where people can thrive.

To help deliver our Development Growth Strategy, we’ve introduced an Area Investment Toolkit. This gives us a clear and consistent way to assess potential locations, making sure new developments are well connected and close to essential services, transport links and local amenities.

We’ve also developed the Anchor Design Guide, which now shapes every new development. The guide sets clear design requirements for Independent Living and Extra Care housing, ensuring consistency, quality and alignment with the Healthy Homes Principles. It highlights the importance of accessibility and adaptability, both inside and outside the home, so our homes meet current needs and can flex for the future.

Our minimum space standards meet or exceed the Nationally Described Space Standards, giving people room to live comfortably and independently as their needs change. We prioritise natural light, clean air and good thermal comfort. We also include low energy lighting, heating and hot water systems to help manage living costs. From the earliest design stages, we consider overheating risks, making sure things like solar gain, building orientation and shading are fully planned.

Our 2022 Sustainability Strategy sets our ambition for net zero carbon homes. We’re already applying development standards that go beyond future changes to Building Regulations. All new developments use energy efficient systems and no longer rely on fossil fuels, helping reduce carbon emissions for the long term.

We also ensure every development includes strong fire safety measures. This includes comprehensive fire detection and sprinkler systems, supported by specialist fire consultants throughout design and construction. Their expertise helps us identify and reduce risks at every key stage.