Every Home Matters: One Year On
Published 27th October 2025
By Chris Tredget
It’s hard to believe, but it’s already been a year since we launched our business strategy, FOR Our Future. Over the past twelve months, I’ve had the privilege of leading our business into new workstreams, alongside an incredible team.
Often, when companies reflect on the first year of a strategy, the focus is on financial performance: profits, contracts won, revenue growth. While we’ve certainly had a strong year on those fronts, that’s not what I want to write about.
Instead, I want to reflect on what truly matters, the difference our strategy has made to the way we see our role in social housing, the communities we serve, and, most importantly, our people. Profit is short lived without a team, one team, that is engaged, thriving and developing.
We’ve always worked in social housing, but over the past year we have taken this commitment to a deeper level.
Social housing is the foundation of so much in the UK. With 4.5 million social housing homes across the country, these properties support families, individuals, working people, the elderly, the homeless and the vulnerable. But social housing isn’t just about providing affordable homes. It promotes mental well-being, fosters communities and play a critical role in achieving the UK’s net-zero targets. These homes are the foundations of our caring society, and I’m proud that Fortem is focused entirely on this sector.
Highlights from this year:
Understanding the homes we support
This year we’ve invested time in truly listening to our clients, understanding their challenges and shaping services that respond directly to their needs. This has led to real change.
Our data team now looks closely at repairs, voids and capital works so that we can spot patterns, predict change and build a workforce that is forward-thinking rather than reactive. We haven’t done this in isolation, our clients have been central to co-designing these services, so they reflect real priorities on the ground.
Alongside this, we’ve broadened our approach to asset management, ensuring that the work we do in repairs, maintenance, capital works and retrofit works together into cohesive plans. This has meant investing in training so that our people can both install and maintain all properties, including our energy efficiency measures.
Listening to the resident
Another area of focus this year has been resident engagement. It is essential that we all understand the impact we have on residents and their homes and communicate effectively. This has included working with TPAS to train our frontline people, to new communication methods that support digitally savvy residents and those residents that prefer brochures and face to face conversations. It’s simply, about respecting residents and their homes.
Kitchen and bathrooms installs can be intrusive so positive resident engagement is key. The team have done an amazing job in Birmingham to work with residents while the work takes place. I recently visited the site and Elizabeth, a resident, said to me:
“Every member of your team who came to my home was kind, respectful, and genuinely caring. It was a pleasure to have such a professional, thoughtful group of people working here. I am beyond grateful for what Fortem has done for me”
It’s fantastic to hear.
This is only the start, early next year we have an exciting announcement on our next steps with our “pioneering” resident engagement plans.
Empowering communities to thrive
This work sits alongside our growing social value activities, which reflect our belief in purpose beyond profit, we want to contribute far beyond the work we do on homes.
Over the past year we have created 83 work experience placements,14 apprenticeships and supported 39 community projects.
These are tangible contributions that make a real difference to people’s lives and strengthen the communities where we work. After all, as we proudly say, Every Home Matters, and the home is more than bricks and mortar.
Our people, our one team
Perhaps the most inspiring part of this journey has been the impact on our people. The strategy has given us all, not just leadership, a clearer sense of purpose and direction. I was delighted to see our recent Investors in People Gold report, highlighted 87% of our people understood the vision and objectives of the business.
Our goal is not only to meet the needs of the sector but to create fulfilling, long-lasting careers. This year, we invested £1.4 million in training, a key priority to ensure we have the workforce of the future while also giving our people opportunities to grow, develop, and take on meaningful challenges throughout their careers.
Last month’s apprenticeship and management trainee awards were a highlight for me, recognising the future leaders of our business and the talent that will shape the years ahead. But our strategy is not only about those on formal programmes. Every colleague, no matter their role, is invaluable to our success, and it has been wonderful to see the whole business feel more engaged and aligned behind our shared goals.
Looking ahead
As we close out the first year of our strategy, I feel both proud of what we have achieved and excited for what lies ahead. We have deepened our understanding of our clients’ challenges, strengthened our approach to regulation, improved the way we engage with residents and invested heavily in our people. Above all, we have reinforced our shared belief that social housing is not just a business sector, it is our purpose.
When I look back on the past year, I’m reminded of what I said at the very start, this is not my strategy, it is our collective strategy. It belongs to our Fortem people. They designed it, they deliver it, and they are the reason I can look to the future with such pride and confidence.