About Us
About Keon
Keon Homes is a family-run housing developer, part of the Tara Group alongside Chasetown Civil Engineering and Cameron Homes. We work across the Midlands, delivering affordable homes, Extra Care schemes, and private rental housing, in partnership with Registered Providers, Local Authorities, and other organisations.
Being family run shapes how we operate. We take a long-term view of the developments we’re involved in and the communities they become part of, rather than treating any scheme as a one-off project. Building lasting relationships — with our partners, and with the people who live in and around the places we help create — matters to us.
We work in this sector because the need for affordable, good-quality homes is real and growing, and we want to play our part in meeting it. That means being involved in projects at different scales, from smaller developments to larger and more complex schemes, always working within the frameworks and requirements set by our partners and local authorities.
Our approach is guided by a simple principle we try to hold ourselves to: Doing the Right Thing. That means being upfront about our plans, working openly with those we partner with, and aiming to deliver homes that genuinely work for the communities they’re part of.
We understand that developments like this can be significant for local residents, and we’re committed to listening carefully through this consultation process.
Social Value
Community impact is central to how Keon Homes operates, delivered through the Tara Group’s charitable trust, the Noel Sweeney Foundation. A share of Group profits is committed to the Foundation each year, meaning the social value delivered alongside schemes like this one is funded directly by the Group’s development activity rather than by one-off contributions.
Established in memory of Group founder Noel Sweeney, the Foundation is dedicated to improving life chances for young people and preventing and reducing homelessness through early intervention, education and community-based services in the areas where the Group lives, works and builds. Since launching in 2021, the NSF has awarded over £1.2 million in grants to more than 150 organisations and causes across the Midlands.
This commitment is reflected directly in the areas where Keon Homes is developing with the support of our dedicated Social Impact team.
Birmingham is where a significant share of that support has been directed, reflecting the Group’s long-standing presence in the city. To date the Foundation has committed over £200,000 directly to Birmingham organisations, including St Basils’ work with young people facing homelessness, a £10,000 partnership with Aston Villa Foundation bringing construction and STEM education to young people, and a sensory garden built for Sense in memory of Noel Sweeney.
Our support for Birmingham Children’s Hospital goes well beyond the £50,000 we have committed to it: we are part of the hospital’s Changemakers programme, which involves our employees directly in decisions about how the money is used and in regular hands-on volunteering. It is a working partnership rather than a donation, and it is the model we look to build wherever the Group is active.
Alongside grant funding, our teams give their own time and skills to projects across the city – virtual reading sessions with pupils at Welford Primary School, decorating St Basils’ Live and Work accommodation in Newtown, and improvements to outdoor facilities at Nelson Primary School. Much of that work has been concentrated close to this site.
At Port Loop, our nearby development in Ladywood, the social impact programme has delivered a sustained series of projects in the surrounding neighbourhoods – Nelson Primary School was identified through that work, and we have actively sought out and funded partners rooted in the immediate area, including £7,500 towards the core running costs of Birmingham Care Group. We would take the same approach at the former Tower Ballroom, working with schools, community groups and organisations around Edgbaston Reservoir so that the benefits of the development are felt locally, with the Foundation’s funding remaining open to causes in the surrounding neighbourhoods throughout the construction programme and beyond.
Keon Homes sees this work as inseparable from development itself. Building in Birmingham means a commitment to the city that starts before construction and continues long after the homes are complete, and at the former Tower Ballroom, delivered in partnership with Midland Heart as long-term owner and manager, that commitment is built into how the scheme will be delivered.
About Midland Heart
Midland Heart is one of the UK’s largest housing associations, with a proud history spanning over 100 years. We provide homes and services to 70,000 people across the Midlands, helping individuals and families find safe, affordable places to live and build their futures.
We believe everyone deserves a safe, decent and affordable place to call home. That’s why we invest in high-quality housing, support local communities and work with partners to create places that people are proud to be part of.
As a not-for-profit organisation rooted in the Midlands, we take a long-term approach to everything we do. Our focus is not just on delivering new homes, but on creating successful neighbourhoods that stand the test of time.
If approved, the homes at the former Tower Ballroom would remain in Midland Heart’s ownership and management, meaning we would continue to invest in and care for the development and its residents for many years to come.