Foreword from the Chair of the Board

Before I start, I would like to take this opportunity to pay my respects to our previous Chair, Huw Evans, who very sadly passed away in June 2019. He was a key figure for us at Cartrefi Conwy and was integral to the shaping of our strategic vision. His compassion, enthusiasm, expertise and knowledge helped shape the dynamic organisation we are today, and his legacy continues to influence what we do and how we do it. Since I took on ‘the baton’ as Chair of the Cartrefi Conwy Board in November 2019 we have made some changes to the Board structure. I am confident that the knowledge, skills and passion around the table will provide Cartrefi Conwy with an excellent foundation to take us forward into an exciting new phase. Looking back over the last 12 months it is awe-inspiring to see how much we have achieved. Our tenants remain at the heart of everything we do, and I was delighted that we achieved the Customer Excellence Standard again this year. Ensuring our tenants can sustain their tenancies, live in a well-maintained home that is suitable for their needs and are well-supported will always be our priority. And it’s great to see our Creating Enterprise teams supporting them with employment opportunities, training and new skills. You will see from this report that we have really stepped up momentum on our new development programme and as we build more homes, the more employment opportunities we can offer to our tenants and the wider communities we serve. It has been over 3 years since the Grenfell fire in London, and we continue to learn from this tragedy. Although we have achieved ROSPA Gold status for our commitment to maintaining excellent Health and Safety again this year, we won’t be resting on our laurels. This year we have developed a new digital platform which enables colleagues to record information in one place, giving us more accurate, up to date ‘live’ data on all matters relating to health and safety across the whole organisation. As we neared the end of the 19/20 financial year the way we live and work changed overnight with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. All our colleagues had to quickly adapt to very different ways of working. I want to personally thank each and every one of the Cartrefi Conwy and Creating Enterprise colleagues whose adaptability and flexibility has ensured our business can continue and our tenants are kept safe. From the IT team who mobilised us all to be able to work from home, to the trades who continue to go into our homes to make sure we met our legal obligations as a landlord, I applaud you all. This has just reaffirmed what I already knew, our team is amazing and collectively we can do great things. I very much look forward to seeing our business grow from strength to strength over the coming years. Thank you.