Redhouse Lane unlocks worker housing identity

London design group Redhouse Lane is creating a brand identity for the latest initiative from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

The £750m Government housing scheme, believed to be called Key Worker Living, will offer housing assistance to workers across the health, education and community services sectors. It launches at the end of March.

The scheme builds on the Government’s £250m Starter Home Initiative and seeks to help retain skills and experience in areas throughout the UK where property prices are high, such as London, the South East and parts of the East of England.

According to an ODPM spokeswoman, the branding exercise aims to correct the brand dilution from which the Starter Home Initiative suffered.

‘[SHI] funding was allocated at the local level through housing associations. They all set themselves up under different names, diluting the brand. The Government was also not recognised [for its contribution],’ she explains.

Redhouse Lane design production manager Narinder Banwait says the job includes name generation and the creation of a logo, a strapline – Settle for more – as well as a colour palette and brand guidelines.

Following ministerial approval, which is expected to be granted this week, the creative work will be adapted for use on an, as yet, unconfirmed website, and applied to all print communications and an exhibition stand for the programme’s launch at the ODPM’s headquarters in London.

Banwait says the ‘clearly recognisable and consistent’ brand identity reflects the ODPM’s core values and has been developed in conjunction with an eight-person focus group.

Redhouse Lane was appointed to the work, worth a £15 000 fee to the group, after a three-way, paid creative pitch. Consultancy creative director Raf Amato is creative lead on the project.

The ODPM was created as a central Government department in 2002 and is responsible for policy on housing, planning, devolution, regional and local government and the fire service.