What are the changes?
Our Enhanced Housing Management Team is piloting a new scheme that combines building legislation, fire safety and day-to-day housing management.
This approach has been put in place in 90 of our buildings to ensure we’re compliant with the latest government legislation. The aim of the programme is to provide customers with a single-point of contact for concerns or questions relating to building safety and housing management.
The new Property and Safety Managers are responsible for a smaller number of homes, enabling them to be on-site regularly. This enables them to build stronger relationships with customers and respond quicker.
What has happened so far?
The pilot was launched last year and is being rolled out in phases for our higher risk buildings. our dedicated team has already made significant progress, having completed inspections in all buildings involved in the programme in 2023, and created tailored plans to meet the latest regulations.
Positive feedback from our customers
The pilot scheme received positive feedback from customers preferring one point of contact for all housing enquiries. This has resulted in an increase in customer satisfaction due to a more efficient service and a faster rate of safety inspections.
Following customer feedback, our new Property and Safety Managers will now manage some aspects of anti-social behaviour, referrals to our money support services, and service charge queries. In cases of serious and complex anti-social behaviour, our dedicated team will support residents and housing officers.
The poll also found that 96% of customers found the level of information provided by the team was useful and informative. Since January 2023, there’s been a 400% increase in the number of residents attending our building safety webinars. They are held to update customers on building repair works and provide an opportunity to ask questions and meet senior staff.
Expanding the service to more customers
Dan Simpson, Head of Enhanced Housing Management, said: “We started this pilot to make sure we deliver a good quality service to our customers. We believe our Property and Safety Managers do a better job when they can spend more time on-site meeting with residents.
“We know there is still much more work to do, and this pilot is one of many steps that we’re making to make sure customers live in homes that are high-quality and safe.
“Feedback from customers, who have benefitted from the pilot, has helped us to improve and shape our service, which we hope will be rolled out to more developments in the future.”