Customer Engagement Round-up: Summer 2026
Here's our round-up of customer engagement news and information from summer 2026 including:
- Opportunities to get involved
- Getting frustrated when things go wrong?
- Great British Beach Clean
- Latest updates, news, and information
- Our 2026 Gardening Competition winners and runners up
- Being seen in your communities
- How do we engage with retirement living customers?
- Watch the staircasing webinar
- Inspirational progress at Westcott Community Garden
- Listening to customers in our high-rise buildings
- Training, employment, and support
If there’s anything you’d like to see, or you have any questions, please email customer.engagement@stonewater.org
Spotted something that's not quite right and think we can do better?
We all know how frustrating it can be when something goes wrong, communication isn't clear, or you're left waiting for an update.
If you've ever thought, "There must be a better way of doing this," we'd love to hear from you.
We're looking for customers with ideas, opinions and a passion for making a difference to help us improve our services and communications. Head to our website for more info and to apply today!
The Great British Beach Clean
It's a week-long event taking place between Friday 18th - Sunday 27th September 2026, where hundreds of beach cleans take place up and down the UK.
Beach cleans do more than remove litter. Data is collected that helps improve packaging and product labelling, supports better recycling, and helps drive changes that protect our oceans.
Find a beach clean near you or set up your own
Gardening Competition 2026 winners and runners up
Huge congratulations to all the winners and runner-ups in the 2026 Stonewater Gardening Competition.
We received more entries than ever before, and the standard was incredibly high. It was clear how much time, dedication and hard work had gone into every garden, making the judges' job extremely difficult.
We're so grateful to everyone who took part and shared their gardening stories with us. We hope you enjoy looking through the entries, and reading about the people and passion behind each garden.
"I thoroughly enjoyed looking through the entries. The quality was incredibly high, and what really stood out was the pride, care and creativity that had gone into each garden. You could see the time and effort people had invested, which made choosing between them much harder than I expected! It was a brilliant reminder of the positive difference our customers make to their homes and communities, and of the pride they take in where they live."
Jonathan Layzell, Chief Executive of Stonewater and gardening competition judge
Customer Choice Award
Winner Malcolm said: “Just over a year ago the garden was a dumping ground for broken garden furniture. It's now been transformed into a resident friendly space. There is a mixture of vegetables, fruit and flowers in the garden. When I heard that Jephson Court had won the Customer Choice award in the gardening competition for 2026 I was surprised but pleased, and I would like to thank the people who voted for it."
Bees and Beyond winner
John (a 3x winner!) said: “Last year I entered part of my backyard in this category, but my front garden is as important for pollinators as well so I thought I would enter that garden this year. It's great to be recognised again for the work I put into it. There are a few reasons why I like gardening. Firstly, I try to choose the plants that are good pollinators and these help to support wildlife. Second. It gets me out into the fresh air and challenges me to keep on top of all the plants I am growing. Third, at 81 years old, it is a valuable way to keep me fairly fit.”
"It's absolutely incredible. It's amazing to see how established it is. I can only imagine the time and effort that goes into keeping it looking this good."
Comment from Fiona, one of our customer judges.
Individual Garden Winner
Winner Eira said “When I moved into my house there was nothing in it, I have planted all myself with most from cuttings over the years, I've had hedgehogs visiting, birds on my feeders, and had birds nesting, like bluetits, blackbirds, and butterflies, bees, I've grown carrots and rocket and beetroot and I've grown wildflowers this year, and I call my path the runway as it is lovely in the summer, I do enjoy my garden it helps my wellbeing.”
Community or Shared Garden Winner
Winner Jane said: “A garden carefully tended by a small group of residents aged between 70 and 90 for the benefit of all the residents living at Southfield House. Most of the flowers are grown from seed and this year we have grown vegetables as well which have been passed on for other residents to enjoy.”
"This communal garden is a real credit to everyone involved. What stands out most is the care and dedication behind this garden. It's beautifully kept, packed with colour, and creates a wonderful space for residents to enjoy together."
Comment from Juliana, Judge and Chair of our Customer Experience Challenge and Assurance Panel
Micro Garden Winner
Winner Pawel said "I struggle with social interactions and have extreme anxiety triggered by sound sensitivity as of my CPTSD. I have been looking for my purpose and meaning and I've realised I find pleasure, peace, and connection by working with the land and plants. I have had many extraordinary gardens and houseplants, and I think that me and green spaces were always meant to be. The environment that I have created brings me peace, sense of belonging and life purpose, and visual stimulus and pleasure. Now also a boost of confidence and achievement which I am grateful for."
And let's not forget the fabulous Runners-Up
Being seen in your communities
This summer, our Customer Engagement team and Housing Officers were out and about in your communities, talking to you about how you'd like us to work in your local area. It was fantastic to meet so many of you and hear your views.
Many of you told us you'd like to see more of us in your communities. As part of our new customer strategy, we're working across five localities, but we know every locality is different. That's why we took the opportunity to listen to your ideas, feedback and experiences, and to better understand what matters most to you.
We're now using what you've told us to develop our Being Seen Blueprints. These local plans will help us become more visible, connected and responsive in the places you live.
They'll show who represents Stonewater locally, how to contact the right person, and how we're using your feedback to improve services and focus on the things that matter in your community.
We're looking forward to sharing the Being Seen Blueprints with you very soon.
Scrutiny Panel review: How do we engage with retirement living customers?
The Scrutiny Panel has completed its latest review of scheme-based engagement in Retirement Living, exploring the social activities and events available across our schemes and how we encourage customers to get involved.
Social activities can play an important role in supporting wellbeing, independence, and connecting with others. The review looked at whether activities are inclusive, accessible and well promoted, as well as how consistently they're delivered across schemes.
Find out what the Panel discovered and read its recommendations in the review summary.
Fancy being part of the panel? Check out the Scrutiny Panel web page.
Staircasing webinar: buying more shares of your home
Many shared owners tell us they'd like to staircase, but aren't sure where to start. That's why we're looking at different ways to make the process easier to understand, answer your questions, and help you explore the options available to you.
Our recent live webinar was well attended. A big thank you to everyone who joined us and submitted questions for the team. To help you understand the staircasing process, we've made a recording of the webinar available below and created a guide with useful information and answers to frequently asked questions.
Thinking about staircasing or ready to apply? Find out more and submit an application on our buying more shares in your home webpage.
Inspirational progress at Westcott Community Garden in Swindon
We know we've included updates before on this community garden, but it's such an amazing space doing so much for the community, with so many people and organisations working together to do fantastic things.
Westcott Community Garden have recently published a summary report showing all the activities and involvement and the progress photos over the year are really worth a look at.
Inspired to create a community garden or space? We can help. Drop us a message with your ideas to customer.engagement@stonewater.org
Listening to customers in our high-rise buildings
Over the summer, we held building safety events with our Building Safety Manager, Customer Engagement Officer, Housing Officer, Repairs teams and contractors at Charlottes Wharf and Atlantis Court.
It was great to meet and speak with customers about the issues that matter most locally. During the visits, we were able to resolve some issues on the day, and we've created action plans to look at how we can sort some of the longer-term issues.
One message that's been clear: our high rise customers wanted to see us more often. This feedback was raised through our Building Safety Group and helped shape our Customer Building Safety Strategy. As part of that commitment, we're now delivering at least two customer engagement events each year at all our high-rise buildings.
We're looking forward to meeting more customers at our upcoming events at Newlands Place in September and Fir Tree Walk in October.
Jobs at Stonewater
Check out our latest vacancies including some flexible, part-time, and home-based roles.