Ark Housing Association has announced it is to rebrand to roll out an ambitious future strategy.

Ark – which will now drop housing association from its name – has developed a business plan that will lay the foundations of a long-term strategy that will see the transformation of the organisation over the next five years and beyond.

The business plan will see Ark reshape as a modern, future-focused organisation that aims to positively impact on the lives of its tenants, supported people and staff.

Ark provides care, support and housing for adults with complex and enduring needs and their families, as well as general needs housing, across Scotland.

In a rare step, but one intended to ensure it had fully listened to all views and opinions, Ark spoke to around 600 tenants, supported people and staff to ask them what was important to them in their life at Ark.

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Chief Executive Bobby Duffy said the unprecedented level of engagement - which has been highly praised as a clear sign of the care Ark had for its community - has been vital in shaping the future pathway of Ark.

He said: "Out of this work the new vision, mission and values were developed to reflect the organisation in 2020, and to identify the challenges and opportunities we face now and in the future.

"We are driven by our social purpose and the future success of Ark will be measured by the social impact we have on our community. Our new vision and mission therefore reflect our ambitions as an organisation who seeks to have a positive impact on the lives of our community now - and our community of the future.

"We aspire to be an organisation that is a provider of the highest quality of housing and care to our customers.

"Over the lifetime of this plan we will continue to invest in our people, in our housing and in our care services to ensure we realise our new vision and mission.

"This is a long term plan, we will have a specific focus for the years 2020-2025, but our ambitions for this organisation run beyond that. The level of transformation we wish to achieve will take time and we believe the strategic objectives we have set out in this first business plan, will prepare the ground for the transformation of Ark and deliver the change our community told us they want to see.

"We also think this plan will demonstrate a clear statement of intent to the wider sector. In the past, we perhaps may have been seen as an organisation that follows; now it is our intention to be a leader and pioneer."