AGM 2025

Radius AGM June 2025 

Business partners and shareholders joined the Board and staff of Radius Housing Association for their 2025 AGM this week where the past year’s performance was reviewed along with the Group’s future plans.  

Radius reflected on positive progress against their priorities of sustaining tenancies and increasing community development, modernising and keeping safe their existing housing stock, while building more energy efficient social homes.   

Chairman Martin Pitt confirmed: "We are 3yrs through our 5 year corporate plan which places the needs of our customers front and centre, within thriving communities.  We aim to provide the best possible housing, care and support in tandem with out tenants. Over the 12 months we managed to advance the dial in difficult operating circumstances. We have seen targets achieved, enhancements made across our services and our core ICT systems modernised.  Our Moodys rating is their highest award for a UK housing association bar one.  The Board were particularly pleased to see the results of our latest customer survey which shows how our improvements are positively impacting on the lives of many".   

Radius combined an employee recognition event with the formal AGM proceedings to highlight examples of creativity and dedication, when staff went the extra mile.  Representatives from the 950 workforce had been nominated and shortlisted for their exceptional efforts.  

Martin explained "We are a People Business and our achievements and the trust earned from our customers greatly depends on their actions. Today we wanted to recognise those individuals and teams who lived our values, sometimes in the most challenging of circumstances." 

While 2024/25 presented challenges in terms of funding, rising costs and infrastructure constraints, John McLean, Chief Executive reflected on Radius’s business progress in the year: "While we operate in these uncertain times our strategy prioritises those things which we can shape and control and which positively impact on our customers and the communities we serve. We shielded customers from full the full impact of rising costs for another year. Our welfare team identified no less than £3.7m of benefits which our tenants might otherwise have missed out on. Together with 150 social enterprise partners, we brought together 60,000 people across 230 community events. This while investing £35m in improvements to Radius homes while completing and commencing on site a combined total of 490 new energy efficient homes."         

At a time of record waiting lists, the current shortage of social homes needs a collective solution between government, providers, the utilities and the supply chain.  

Only recently Radius secured £150m of private loans to help fund 1,500 new homes as well as the retrofitting of existing homes.  

As Martin explained: "Our Sector needs to deliver an increased social housing development programme of 2,500-3,000 new starts per annum and follow England’s lead. Not only would this start to address acute housing need but it would give a much needed boost to the local construction industry and the wider business economy. An integral part of unblocking delivery is increasing water infrastructure capacity. 

We welcome collaborative and joint-up solutions which will enable many of our excellent housing schemes to move forward. Good quality housing is a basic right for every citizen and serves as a springboard for better outcomes in health, education, wellbeing and employment not to mention equality and self-esteem. 

Through better housing we make Northern Ireland a more resilient society, better placed to secure inward investment."