IN Brief:
- Dandara Southern has completed 16 homes for VIVID, comprising 12 affordable rent and four shared ownership properties.
- Every home uses an air source heat pump for heating and hot water, with one, two and three-bedroom properties included.
- West Wittering forms part of a 72-home partnership spanning three Dandara developments in Hampshire and West Sussex.
VIVID has completed 16 affordable homes in West Wittering with Dandara Southern, delivering the first finished element of a wider partnership that will provide 72 affordable properties across three developments in Hampshire and West Sussex.
The West Wittering scheme comprises 12 homes for affordable rent and four shared ownership properties. The mix includes one-bedroom flats and two and three-bedroom houses, adding lower-cost housing options within a coastal village where access to property can be constrained by high local values.
Dandara Southern built the homes while continuing private development elsewhere in West Wittering. The affordable properties therefore sit within a broader programme of new housing rather than as an isolated stand-alone scheme.
All 16 homes have air source heat pumps providing heating and hot water. The specification places low carbon heating into the development from first occupation rather than leaving residents or the housing provider to retrofit replacement systems later.
New-build installation also allows the heating equipment to be considered alongside fabric performance, heat loss, ventilation and controls. Air source heat pumps generally operate most efficiently at lower flow temperatures than conventional gas boilers, making the relationship between the building envelope, emitters and system design particularly important.
The technology does not remove the need for effective commissioning and resident guidance. Controls, heating schedules and temperature settings influence energy consumption after handover, while housing providers need sufficient technical information to maintain equipment over its service life.
Completion at West Wittering came ahead of schedule, with the first residents already settled into the new properties. That takes the project beyond the planning and construction pipeline and into occupied housing, providing a completed reference point for the remaining developments covered by the VIVID and Dandara agreement.
Sunita Aujla, Land and New Business Director at VIVID, said: “We’re pleased to see these homes completed in West Wittering. Working closely with Dandara Southern, we’ve provided high-quality affordable homes for years to come. Partnerships like this are an important part of increasing the supply of affordable housing and creating lasting value for local communities.”
The wider arrangement will see Dandara deliver another 56 affordable homes for VIVID across sites in Petersfield and North Mundham. Taken together, the three developments create a 72-home programme rather than a succession of unrelated acquisitions.
That portfolio structure can give both parties greater visibility over delivery. The housebuilder has a defined customer for the affordable homes across several sites, while VIVID can secure additional supply through developments already moving through the construction process.
The model can also simplify repeated decisions over specifications, tenure requirements, handover information and the commercial arrangements governing affordable homes. Individual sites still carry different planning conditions, programmes and local constraints, but a continuing relationship gives the organisations an opportunity to apply lessons from one project to the next.
Russell Turner, Partnership Director at Dandara, said the completion demonstrated the effect that housing partnerships could have in an area where local people face difficulty accessing suitable homes. He also described completing the development ahead of schedule as a significant milestone for Dandara’s Southern region.
The practical challenge now moves from construction into operation. Affordable rented properties will be managed over the long term, while shared ownership homes combine resident ownership interests with an ongoing housing association role. Build quality, maintenance information and the reliability of building services therefore continue to matter after the contractor leaves site.
The air source heat pumps bring that relationship into sharper focus. Housing providers increasingly need technical capacity around low carbon heating because maintenance differs from the gas boiler model familiar across much of the existing housing stock. Correct fault diagnosis, spare parts, controls and servicing become part of asset management rather than simply an issue for the original installer.
The completion also contributes to a wider shift in how affordable housing is secured within mixed development programmes. Registered providers can acquire completed or committed homes from housebuilders, allowing affordable supply to progress alongside private development without the provider acting as lead developer on every site.
For contractors and developers, those arrangements still demand careful coordination. Affordable homes may carry different tenure standards, funding requirements and handover processes from market housing even where the physical specification is similar. Keeping those requirements aligned during construction reduces the risk of changes being introduced late in the programme.
VIVID has other affordable housing projects moving through construction in the region, including a separate 38-home development at Horndean. West Wittering differs because the buildings have reached completion, providing evidence of delivered stock rather than future numbers.
The remaining Petersfield and North Mundham schemes will determine how consistently the partnership can repeat that result. The immediate West Wittering phase has delivered 16 occupied homes with low carbon heating; the wider programme still has 56 properties to move from agreement through construction and handover.
At a local level, the finished development adds a relatively small number of homes. At programme level, it establishes the first completed component of a three-site arrangement that VIVID and Dandara now have to carry through across two further developments.
