Gloucestershire-based housing association, Bromford, built 444 homes for social rent in 2021-22, making it the biggest builder of social rented homes in England for the second year running.

The company has also announced a strong set of financial results for 2021-22.

Despite being hit by Covid-19, rising inflation and significant volatility around labour supply and materials, net surplus at the organisation increased to £79m (£62m in 2021). Social housing and overall operating margins rose to 36 per cent and 32 per cent respectively (compared to 35 per cent and 31 per cent in 2021).

Bromford built 1,224 new homes during the year, up from 902 in the previous year, including a record 253 by its in-house construction team, accounting for one in five of all its new homes.

The housing association extended its Homes England strategic partnership with £240m of grant funding helping it cement its commitment to homes using modern methods of construction (MMC) and an additional 4,000 homes overall in the next five years

Bromford continues to work in communities, through its network of neighbourhood coaches. They are now being supported by the rollout of a new specialised income team, providing customers with more tailored financial support, in response to the cost-of-living crisis

Bromford is also strengthening its efforts to attract the best future talent into the business, through the launch of a new graduate programme, and has committed to having apprenticeships make up at least five per cent of the business within five years

Robert Nettleton, chief executive, said: "We're pleased to report a strong set of financial results in a year when the Covid pandemic continued to provide many challenges for our customers, colleagues and stakeholders. Our primary focus throughout the year continued to be the safety and wellbeing of our customers and colleagues."

Paul Walsh, chief finance officer, said: "Against the backdrop of an increasingly difficult operating environment, we continue to deliver a strong set of financial results.

"Our strong surplus allows us to self-fund a significant proportion of the investment in our new and existing homes and we maintained net arrears of less than two per cent through the close working with our customers from our unique neighbourhood coach and income management teams, which we know will become even more paramount in the year ahead."