Two decades of Creating Opportunity

20 years later, we now own and manage over 9,000 homes and, with partners, are leading a £2.5bn physical regeneration of Poplar including new homes, education, healthcare, faith buildings, business and workspace and community spaces.

We create opportunities for our community by providing jobs & skills training, enterprise support and youth provision. Our HARCA police team helps keep the streets safer and we work with local and national organisations to provide green & sustainable initiatives, art & culture, clubs and networks.

Here are just some of the things we do in the one square mile of Poplar that we call home:

• We take care of 210 communal grass areas and 12 pocket parks
• We’ve helped 5,000 local people into jobs – with a social impact of £70m.
• 10,000 visitors each year come to mix, celebrate our heritage and have fun at our festivals
• Over 6000 people have volunteered with us
• We’re home to Europe’s first fully electric car club
• We’re proud to have won some prestigious Awards, including The Guardian Public Service Award twice (2009 and 2016), UKHA Landlord of the Year (2015) and Social Landlord of the Year (2017)
• We support hundreds of local businesses through mentoring, microloans, affordable co-working space, publicity and events
• We’ve fitted over 2,500 solar panels: saving money, and the planet!
• Angela Lansbury came home to Poplar for a film festival in her honour
• We launched the world’s smallest V&A museum to celebrate our heritage
• We support a range of community-run clubs from Poplar Peddlers to Film Club, Poplar Singers to open mic nights
• We have delivered over £80m social impact value across our 12 community centres

None of this would have been possible without an incredible group of residents, passionate staff, and partners that share our vision. You can see some of their stories in our video section.

Huge thanks to everyone that helps us create opportunities in Poplar.
We can’t wait for the next 20 years!

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