Ark
Barnsbury Housing Association – Website to support the provision of affordable housing in North London
2018 – ongoing
Barnsbury Housing Association (BHA) works to help keep the local community affordable and thriving through quality rented housing.
We were approached by BHA to build a new website that could better support residents to manage their tenancy and engage in their local community. They also needed to provide potential tenants with information about applying for housing.
A website centred around residents
While BHA speaks to a range of different audiences, the main focus for their new website was existing residents. An important aspect of the project was to involve this group in the design process right from the start and throughout.
Through a series of information architecture and design workshops we established that this group’s primary needs would be met by providing prominent and action-oriented calls-to-action on the home page and dedicated sections within the website structure. Examples of these actions included paying rent or reporting a repair.
Each of these actions has a dedicated destination page which was designed to provide residents with all the information they need. Where needed, transactional journeys (e.g. paying rent by credit or debit card) were developed.
Engaging the wider community
BHA and their residents play a full role in the wider community and so the new website also needed to reflect this. It provides latest news centred around the areas in which BHA housing is located and has a calendar of upcoming community events.
For prospective tenants, there is clear information about available housing and the process for applying to be added to the waiting list.
The website also provides a home for all of BHA’s organisational content including staff and board listings, governance information and latest job vacancies.
