Seventeen years as Cavanna Homes' trusted communications partner
Seventeen years as Cavanna Homes' trusted communications partner
KOR Communications was Cavanna Homes' retained communications partner from 2009, spanning media relations, social and digital marketing, public affairs, crisis handling, photography and videography. Over this time, KOR supported the Torquay-based housebuilder through a decade-long governance transition, its centenary, and national Housebuilder Awards wins in 2019 and 2020.
The project
Cavanna Homes is one of the South West's most respected independent housebuilders, family owned since it was founded in 1923, headquartered in Torquay, and known for building quality homes across Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset.
KOR began working with Cavanna in 2009, initially to support its media relations and raise the company's profile in the local press. Over the following two decades, that brief grew into a full communications partnership, spanning every part of the business.
Our approach
As trusted advisers for almost twenty years, we supported Cavanna Homes across the full breadth of its communications, growing its reputation among prospective buyers, the communities in which it was building and engaging with planners, politicians and decision-makers. We were also there to support and resolve reputational matters and guide them through crisis situations. For many years we provided high-quality photography and video, creating a portfolio used across its website, social media, press releases, magazines and award entries.
During the pandemic, KOR was retained to keep the company communicating through one of the busiest and most unpredictable periods the housebuilding sector has seen.
And perhaps most significantly, KOR helped the business communicate its transition from being owned and run by the Cavanna family, to one owned by the family and run by a professionally appointed board. This communication was delivered over a decade and required careful, sequenced communication with a range of audience groups including the company's shareholders.
The outcome
Cavanna Homes won at the national Housebuilder Awards in consecutive years, named Medium Housebuilder of the Year in 2019 and Housebuilder of the Year in 2020 in the 0-300 units category. Those wins reflected the firm's proven track record, which was told through homeowner stories, press coverage, strategic relationships with key stakeholders, a standout photography portfolio and written award entries that made the strongest possible case.
We managed the communications for both the company's 90th anniversary in 2013 and its centenary in 2023, two milestones few businesses ever reach, and the governance transition was completed with the confidence of shareholders, staff and homebuyers intact.
Few agency relationships last as long as ours, and this endured because it was built on trust, shared values and a deep understanding of the company, its people and its history.
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A communications agency for a housebuilder typically covers marketing to prospective buyers, public and stakeholder engagement, local government relations, media relations and crisis handling. For Cavanna Homes, KOR Communications delivered all of these under one retained brief from 2009, along with photography and videography used across the company's website, social media, press releases, magazines and award entries.
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By building it on evidence: homeowner stories, press coverage and a strong photography portfolio, assembled into a written case rather than a list of claims. Cavanna Homes was named Medium Housebuilder of the Year at the 2019 Housebuilder Awards and Housebuilder of the Year 2020 in the 0-300 units category, with KOR Communications supporting the entries, the imagery and the storytelling behind them.
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Yes, because a single portfolio works across every channel a housebuilder uses. The photography and videography KOR delivered for Cavanna Homes over many years appeared on its website, social media, press releases, magazines and national award entries.