Customer Engagement Round-up: Summer 2026
We've pulled together a round-up of customer engagement activities and information from summer 2026, including:
- Opportunities to get involved
- Ever been frustrated by a service that could work better?
- The Great British Beach Clean
- Latest updates, news, and information
- Gardening competition winners
- Being seen in your communities
- How do we engage with retirement living customers?
- Watch the shared owners staircasing webinar
- Transformation at Westcott Community Garden in Swindon
- Heading out and about at our high rise buildings
If there’s anything you’d like to see, or you have any questions, please email customer.engagement@stonewater.org
Ever been frustrated by a service that could work better?
Whether it's a lack of updates, a process that feels too complicated, or something that just doesn't work as it should, your experience can help us improve.
If you can see a better way of doing things, why not get involved? We're looking for customers who want help shape the services we provide and make a real difference to our communities.
There are lots of opportunities to take part, from reviewing specific services and supporting your local community, to helping make sure our services are inclusive and accessible for everyone.
The Great British Beach Clean
The Great British Beach Clean is 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. In 2025 there was:
- 232,229 litter items removed
- 6,482 volunteers
- 97 miles of beach cleaned
Not only will you be involved in helping to keep beaches clean, the litter you collect is analysed and used to support better labelling and improve packaging and recycling schemes.
Click to find your nearest beach clean, or organise 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.
Transformation at Westcott Community Garden in Swindon
We've shared updates about this project before, but it's such an amazing space that we couldn't resist sharing it again. The garden is making a real difference locally, with residents, volunteers and partner organisations coming together to create something special. We love their public living room idea too!
Westcott Community Garden has recently published a summary report showing all the activities, community involvement and achievements over the past year. The progress photos are impressive and well worth a look.
Inspired to create a community garden or space? We can help. Drop us a message with your ideas to customer.engagement@stonewater.org
Heading out and about to our high rise homes
We know everyone wants to feel safe and secure in their home, especially customers living in our high rise buildings. Customers told us they want to see more of us where they live and have more opportunities to talk to us about building safety.
We listened. And that's why we hold at least two customer engagement events each year at every high rise building. We've also included this as a a commitment in our Building Safety Strategy.
At the end of July, we enjoyed meeting customers at Atlantis Court and Charlottes Wharf. These visits gave us the chance to work together with customers, get to know their building and surrounding area, and identify any issues or potential improvements.
Together, we addressed a number of smaller issues on the day and have created action plans to tackle some of the larger concerns raised by customers.
We're looking forward to visiting customers at Newlands Place and Fir Tree Walk in September and October.
If you live in one of our high rise buildings why not join our Customer Building Safety Group.