Building quality homes through partnership: Orbit and NHBC

The Challenge 

As one of the UK's leading not-for-profit housing groups, Orbit is committed to delivering high-quality, sustainable homes that its customers are proud to live in. 

 Most of these are new homes for social rent, affordable rent and shared ownership, as part of Orbit’s commitment to helping ease the UK’s affordable housing crisis. 

The housing association also prides itself on taking a tenure-blind approach to the new homes it builds directly, in line with its focus on creating mixed-tenure communities where all customers receive the same commitment to excellent design, safety and customer service. 

Delivering on its purpose for the long-term means Orbit meeting evolving customer expectations and needs, navigating increasing regulatory requirements and building homes that are fit for the future. 

That’s why choosing partners that share these ambitions is critical – and why Orbit continues to work closely with NHBC.  

Ray Winney, National Build Director at Orbit, said: “NHBC shares the same commitment to exceptional build quality as us, helping us to continually hold our homes to some of the highest standards in the industry.

“The inspections, cover and warranty we receive from NHBC ultimately support us in giving our customers the all-important peace of mind, trust and confidence they deserve when moving into a new home.”  

A partnership built on trust 

Orbit and NHBC have developed a longstanding relationship founded on collaboration, openness and a shared commitment to raising standards. 

Rather than simply providing warranty cover, NHBC works alongside Orbit throughout the development lifecycle, offering technical expertise, independent inspection and practical guidance that helps manage risk and maintain build quality. 

This enables Orbit to go beyond compliance and deliver consistent standards across developments while giving confidence to both colleagues and customers. 

Together, Orbit and NHBC work to: 

• continuously improve construction quality 
• identify potential issues early through technical inspections 
• share expertise and best practice 
• reduce long-term asset risk. 

NHBC's technical specialists work closely with Orbit's teams, creating an environment where challenges can be addressed proactively rather than reactively. 

Ray added: “We benefit from a robust quality inspection process that helps us maintain confidence and assurance in the quality of our new affordable homes across all the key stages of development.  

“This is good for everyone – our colleagues, contractors and most of all our customers. 

“With regular, comprehensive visits from NHBC inspectors, our site teams can draw on the technical expertise and guidance that enables them to continuously evolve their skills and raise standards in house building.  

“The partnership is a valuable way for us to not only maintain excellent quality standards today but also create an environment where our colleagues and partners are supported by experts in developing on the job. 

“The in-depth reporting, auditing and reviews that NHBC offer us also gives us the insight we need to look at the bigger picture and apply learnings and best practice across all our development sites.  

“That helps us easily identify trends so we can continue raising standards across the board – because consistency is absolutely key for us as we work to continue building these much-needed quality new affordable homes at pace and scale.’  

Investing in people 

Both organisations recognise that quality homes start with skilled people. 

Through technical guidance, training and knowledge sharing, NHBC helps support Orbit's ambition to continually develop its people and supply chain while adapting to changing regulations as well as industry and customer expectations. 

And as affordable housing continues to evolve, both organisations see even greater opportunities to work together. 

Future collaboration will focus on innovation, technical excellence, skills development and delivering homes that remain safe, high quality and sustainable for generations to come. 

Ray said: “We’re working towards an ambitious target of delivering 7,000 new and regenerated homes by 2030, so having a trusted partner like NHBC is more important for us than ever. It will help us continue building quality new affordable homes.”