New Name for Maidstone Housing Trust

A not-for-profit housing association with more than 6500 properties in and around Maidstone, Kent has been re-named as Golding Homes.

Golding Homes provides affordable housing, sheltered accommodation, and other related support services for older or vulnerable people in their homes.

The new name Golding Homes was launched on Monday 22nd March, with new corporate colours, logo and an updated website. During the past six years, the company has grown in the services it offers and the new corporate identity aims to reflect this and take it forward.

Chief Executive Peter Stringer commented “Changing our name to Golding Homes and developing the new corporate identity is an exciting time for everyone, including our customers, key partners and employees. It is an investment in the future of the company and we believe that through this growth, we can continue to deliver excellent customer service and better value for money.”

The new name needed to allow the opportunity to grow outside of the Maidstone borough boundaries without losing the existing strong link with the town. The name ‘Golding’ was finally chosen due to Maidstone’s history of hopping and brewing industries, with the Maidstone district once known as the “Mother of Hop Gardens in England”. It refers to the Golding Hop variety, which was discovered by Mr Golding on his farm in Malling in 1790.

The development of the new corporate identity follows an extensive process of consultations, both internally with employees and externally with its partners and stakeholders, with an aim to improve business prospects for the company and its customers. Following the consultation process amongst existing customers, partner organisations and colleagues, opinions were gathered on names, images and designs.

As part of the process, the new Golding Homes website has been launched at www.goldinghomes.org.uk. The website has been updated and made more accessible and customer friendly, with extra functionalities added to make it easier for tenants to report repairs and view events and inspections taking place in their area.