Scotland Housing Awards 2026
Read all the shortlisted entries into this award category, Excellence in the Private Rented Sector, at the Scotland Housing Awards (SHA) 2026 and find out who won the award on the night.
This award is open to all organisations operating in the private rented sector in Scotland. It is aimed at letting agents or landlords who strive to excel in the areas of customer service and innovation.
This award was sponsored by SafeDeposits Scotland.
Winning project name
Mid-Market Rent Fund (New Avenue Living)
Winning organisation
Thriving Investments
Statement of support
New Avenue Living Scotland is transforming affordable housing delivery through an innovative investment model, bringing together institutional investors, government and housing sector expertise to tackle one of Scotland's most pressing challenges: the shortage of high-quality, affordable homes for essential workers. Launched in 2019, the £222.5 million fund has pioneered a unique approach that accelerates housing delivery, supports community sustainability and creates long-term social value. The fund delivers at mid-market rent, a c. 35% discount to market rent for its 2,400 customers.
New Avenue Living Scotland was created to address a significant gap in the housing market. Many essential workers are increasingly priced out of suitable homes near employment opportunities while remaining ineligible for social housing. Traditional affordable housing delivery models alone cannot meet the scale and pace of demand. Through an innovative forward-funding approach, New Avenue Living acquires and converts stalled market-sale developments into affordable rental homes, increasing supply and bringing homes to market more quickly.
The project’s innovation lies in its combination of social purpose and institutional investment, bringing together a diverse partnership including Strathclyde Pension Fund, Scottish National Investment Bank, Nationwide Pension Fund and Places for People Scotland (PfPS). This collaboration enables long-term investment into affordable housing while delivering stable returns linked to inflation, demonstrating that social impact and commercial sustainability can work hand in hand. The fund's place-based strategy focuses on locations within commuting distance of Scotland's major city centres, providing essential workers with affordable homes near employment, services and transport links. Aimed at low and middle income households (customers have an average income of £23,000), homes are let at below market rents through Mid-Market Rent and rent tenure models. This reduces housing costs for customers while improving financial security and quality of life.
The impact on communities has been substantial. Across 12 developments on Scotland’s central belt, the fund operates 1,047 homes, with a further 144 under construction. These homes provide secure, high-quality housing for people who might otherwise struggle to live in high-demand areas. Customers can remain in the communities they know and love but would otherwise be priced out of. One customer from Seacole Square, Edinburgh, echoed this: “I belong to the Craigmillar area and when I saw these flats being built, I thought this would be the perfect place to stay…everything is on your doorstep.”
By creating new housing opportunities close to jobs and services, the project supports economic participation, strengthens local communities and helps employers attract and retain essential workers. This helps to maintain economic diversity, preventing lower and middle-income households being displaced from areas experiencing growth and regeneration.
Sustainability has been embedded into the project from the outset. The fund delivers high-quality, sustainable and energy-efficient homes, all built to an EPC-B rating. This helps customers reduce energy consumption and household bills while supporting wider environmental objectives. All homes have also been developed on brownfield land, protecting urban green spaces. This commitment to measurable impact has been recognised through the award of the Financial Conduct Authority's Sustainability Impact label, reflecting the project’s positive social and environmental contribution through provision of affordable, energy-efficient housing.
This project demonstrates innovation in housing by finding new ways to mobilise investment, accelerate delivery and create lasting social impact. Combining institutional capital, government support and housing expertise, the fund has created a scalable and sustainable model capable of delivering more than 1,000 affordable homes while generating tangible benefits for customers, communities and investors alike. Through its pioneering approach, proven outcomes and strong sustainability credentials, New Avenue Living Scotland is making a real difference to people's lives and setting a new benchmark for innovative affordable housing delivery.
Outcomes and achievements
The New Avenue Living Fund has delivered significant benefits for customers, communities and the wider Scottish economy. By providing affordable, high-quality homes for essential workers, it enables residents to live close to employment, services and transport links while supporting the long-term sustainability of local economies. The fund has generated £68.3 million in resident income, with £56.1 million of disposable income spent in local retail and leisure economies, helping key workers remain within the communities they serve. Community investment has been integral to the fund's success. At Oxgangs Green, Edinburgh, PfPS secured a £2,000 donation for local social enterprise Best Bib ‘n’ Tucker, funding a six-month eco-crafting project for young people. In Glasgow's Royston Road community, PfPS awarded £1,500 to the North Glasgow Community Initiative and is co-hosting a community volunteering day to encourage local people to take ownership of communal and green spaces, strengthen community bonds and promote environmental stewardship.
The fund has also supported approximately 2,090 full-time equivalent construction jobs and generated £500 million of investment in Scotland's construction sector. By combining innovative funding, measurable social impact and environmental sustainability, New Avenue Living provides a scalable model for delivering affordable homes and creating thriving communities.
Shortlisted entries
Curb PSL - Two Digital Solutions, One Transformational Year
Application entry
- Project name: Two Digital Solutions, One Transformational Year
- Lead organisation: Curb PSL
- Partner organisations: Link Group Ltd
Statement of support
C~urb PSL (Private Sector Leasing) delivers a highly responsive and supportive emergency accommodation service on behalf of the City of Edinburgh Council to over 1800 households. Across the last 12 months, not only has the portfolio grown, but staff have gone the extra mile by setting out to vastly improve the speed and quality of tenant support that’s provided, with outstanding results.
Before the project:
- Tenants lacked a simple digital route to manage their tenancy
- Housing officers were restricted to office based access to our systems
- Processes could be delayed and admin heavy digital solutions were needed!
C~urb PSL delivered not just one - but two app launches this year whilst continuing to deliver a highly reactive and vital service. These have transformed how tenants can engage with C~urb and how housing officers manage inspections and tenancy support, and have vastly improved the service delivery.
Collaborative working
Both projects required strong collaborative approaches, consisting of dedicated project leads, supervisors, housing officers, income and administration staff, supported by Link Group Digital Services and software provider. All parties contributed ideas, ensuring the apps were shaped by real operational and tenant needs. By working together, testing, and sharing feedback, C~urb created apps that they felt confident in promoting and delivering. My PSL offers tenants a user friendly, self-service tenant app, available 24/7, allowing them to manage their tenancy, report repairs, view rent balances or make rental payments and access support information to assist in tenancy sustainment. Contact via My PSL App goes directly to the right team first time, whether it be repairs, tenancy requests or more. This helps reduce email traffic and gives both staff and tenants a streamlined experience. Go Mobile provides housing officers a simple mobile tool, allowing them access to housing management systems whilst working in the community with their tenants. Housing officers can complete inspections, report repairs, update tenancy information, all without the additional ‘back office’ admin time previously required to process through the housing management system. Together, these apps have evolved tenant support, improved efficiency whilst enhancing the user journey at a time in tenants’ lives where maximising available support is vital.
Thanks to these two innovations in how C~urb PSL delivers their service:
- Tenants who want to ‘self-serve’ can, with information going to the right team first time
- Tenants who need more support from their housing officers can get it - faster than ever - whether it be out at their home, by phone or via their app
- Staff have more time to engage with and support our most vulnerable tenants
- High take up from tenants and fast onboarding of staff was achieved by putting housing officers, administrators and other frontline staff into the heart of the digital project delivery team
- Both the tenant and staff experience is now continually improving as we develop the tenant and staff apps further.
Future development
C~urb PSL’s innovative digital transformation continues, with phase 2 already underway. This means expanding features in My PSL and Go Mobile, identifying increased automation opportunities, adding robust management reporting functions, and continually improving both apps based on real feedback from tenants and officers. A tenant review group is being assembled to feedback what additional functionality they would like to see in future phases of development.
Outcomes and achievements
MyPSL
- One-thousand-nine-hundred-and-seven recorded log ins to MyPSL across the first six months since its full launch in February 2026, following on from a successful marketing and roll-out strategy
- Improved customer experience has been a huge benefit, as shown in the recent tenant satisfaction survey feedback:
- “I love that I can pay my rent when it suits me.”
- “Useful app that provides addresses and phone numbers for emergency assistance.”
- “Easier way to communicate and get more information.”
Go-Mobile
- One-thousand-and-seventy-five completed tenancy visits within the first three months of the launch, compared to 604 in the same period in 2025, bringing frontline face-to-face support and management to the forefront of the service
- Processing times for housing officers and administrators reduced, with 590 digital forms offering an immediate submission of requests, repairs and support
- Staff survey highlights the benefits of having the operational team at the heart of its design:
- “It’s a much smoother process when with a tenant and I don’t need to come back to the office anywhere near as much, meaning I can get through more visits.” - Paul Farley, Housing Officer
- “I spend more time actually supporting my tenants.” Gemma Maitland, Housing Officer.
