The theme for the Annual General Meeting was ‘Working Together To Achieve More’, celebrating the positive impact of collaborative partnership working.

Guests heard about another successful year in which Kingdom invested over £50 million in high-quality affordable housing, allowing it to complete more than 500 new homes and start on site with a further 204. Maintaining existing homes also remained a priority, with almost £4.5m invested in customers’ homes.

Recognising the terrible impact of the cost of living crisis, Kingdom’s Tenancy Sustainment Service helped almost 1,100 customers access around £800,000 of support and offered advice to combat food and fuel poverty.

The Fife Voices Housing Advocacy Project published its first impact report celebrating a successful first year with over 100 customers referred to the service. A partnership of Fife-based housing associations, Fife Voices Housing Advocacy Project is a collaborative initiative designed to provide additional support to vulnerable tenants, promote tenancy sustainment and prevent homelessness within Fife.

Linda Leslie, chair of Kingdom Housing Association, said: “Kingdom could not have achieved everything it has over the last 12 months by operating in isolation. The Kingdom Group is active across four local authority areas and I’m proud to say we have excellent relationships with our partners in Fife, Perth and Kinross, Clackmannanshire, and Falkirk.

“We also have excellent relationships with a large number of partner organisations including the Scottish Government, Fife Housing Association Alliance, academic institutions, construction companies, architects, suppliers, manufacturers and many, many more. Working together allows us to do more, achieve more and deliver more for our customers and our communities. By developing existing partnerships and cultivating new ones, we have been able to achieve our objectives and have another successful year.”

Linda added: “I’d like to acknowledge the contributions made to the Kingdom Group by two board colleagues who are standing down at our 2023 Annual General Meeting. Freya Lees joined the Kingdom board in 2013 and provided leadership as chair for five years and most recently has served as joint vice chair.

“Laurie Naumann has been a board member since 1979 and has dedicated over four decades to supporting the work we do at Kingdom, including serving as joint vice chair for many years. His enormous experience and expertise have played a vital role in Kingdom’s continuing success. I wish both Freya and Laurie all the best for the future and thank them for their commitment and dedication to the incredibly important work that Kingdom does.”

Tom Barclay, Kingdom Group chief executive, said: “Working together isn’t just the approach we take with our external partners at Kingdom, it’s the approach we take internally too as colleagues from across teams, departments and office locations deliver as One Kingdom for all of our customers. It has been a busy but also incredibly successful year for the Kingdom Group.

“We’ve made really positive contributions to our strategic objectives whilst continuing to manage, maintain and invest in our homes, support people through the cost of living crisis, working with our partner network, including the Scottish Government, local authorities and our wider supply chains, to build and nurture communities and neighbourhoods.”

Tom added: “Last year Kingdom was named Housing Provider of the Year and I am looking forward to building on that incredible legacy and to working closely with a top-class Kingdom Group staff team, and all of our partner organisations, to continue the delivery of our mission to provide more than a home. My thanks go to the management and staff for their hard work and dedication over the last 12 months, supported and encouraged by the excellent leadership of boards across the Kingdom Group.”