APRIL 2010
ISSUE 13
focus EAST THAMES
More than a housing association
HCA visit to the Ocean Estate hosted by East Thames See Page 2
TOP STORIES >> HOMELESSNESS SEMINAR LOOKS AT MAKING BETTER USE OF HOUSING STOCK
NEW BARKING AND DAGENHAM FOYER OFFICIALLY OPENED
EAST GALLERY HELPS YOUNG ARTISTS IN EAST LONDON
Housing professionals from across London come together to discuss ways of tackling homelessness and overcrowding by making better use of housing stock.
East Thames new foyer in Barking and Dagenham officially opened by Councillor Rocky Gill in late January 2010.
A group of budding young entrepreneurs are tackling the often negative stereotypes of young people in east London through art.
020 8522 2000 | www.east-thames.co.uk
Making a positive and lasting contribution to the neighbourhoods in which we work
HCA visits Ocean Estate to check out work underway The regeneration of the Ocean Estate was under inspection this week when Jonathan Martin, head of area for east London at the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) paid a visit. Following on from the recent planning approval given to the estate’s regeneration programme, the HCA has allocated more than £41 million to support the provision of new affordable homes. A major priority for Tower Hamlets Council, the programme – worth £200m in total – will see more than 800 new homes built on the estate, almost half of which will be affordable, and more than 800 council homes refurbished up to Decent
Homes standards. The landscape of the estate will also be widely improved and new community facilities will be developed. Tower Hamlets Council Leader, Cllr Lutfur Rahman, along with representatives from the council’s development partner East Thames Consortium, met Mr Martin for a tour of the works underway on the estate and to discuss the redevelopment plans. The group inspected some of the flats that have been refurbished as part of a pilot scheme, bringing almost 200 homes up to decent standard and met with residents to hear about their experiences.
“It was a pleasure to see the refurbishments and talk to people who can look forward to living in new and improved homes in the near future. We’re working in partnership with the council to ensure HCA funding is being spent where it’s needed most across the borough.”
Left to right: Cllr Lutfur Rahman, Jonathan Martin, June Barnes and Steve Trusler
Jonathan Martin, Homes & Communities Agency "The regeneration of the Ocean Estate will deliver real change to the area and the residents who live on the estate. The scheme has been designed to transform the area, with more family-sized homes and high quality design.” Geoff Pearce, East Thames Group
Fact file •
Ocean Estate was built in the 1950’s • It is placed amongst the 10% most deprived estates in England • Regeneration will involve: • 800 council homes bought to Decent Homes standard • 300 new homes for social rent • 110 homes for affordable housing ownership
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Seminar looks at making better use of housing stock Left to right: Victor da Cunha, Cllr Marc Francis, Belinda Porich, Alan Benson
Housing specialists from London’s major social landlords and local councils came together in March to take part in a conference run by East Thames Group aimed at tackling homelessness by making better use of housing stock. Overcrowding, unlawful subletting and lettings plans were just some of the important industry issues that generated debate during conference workshops and presentations delivered by speakers such as Greater London Authority’s Head of Housing and Homelessness Alan Benson, Tower Hamlets Councillor Marc Francis and National Housing Federation’s Belinda Porich. The conference workshops provided the ideal forum for people to share best practice in the use of housing stock and discuss any barriers to their success. During the workshops, participants agreed on nine suggestions for improvement that will be taken forward by the multi-agency East London Housing Partnership as key concerns for future housing policies.
The event was hosted by East Thames Group, with the support of the East London Housing Partnership, the TSA and Communities and Local Government. “Tackling homelessness and reducing overcrowding is a high priority for everyone working in the social housing sector. The credit crunch has led to a reduction in the amount of new homes in London, so more than ever we need different solutions to these problems. “We can do more to tackle the significant number of households which are illegally sub-let and share this information across London’s social landlords. We also need to do more to understand how many people are living in homes which are now too large for their needs. If we can get more movement into the sector we could do more to help today’s generation of overcrowded families.” Victor da Cunha, East Thames Group
Did you know?
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Councillor Rocky Gill and Foyer support worker Jennifer Murphy with resident Kemisha Oyemola, 23, with her son Kemari
New Barking and Dagenham Foyer officially opened East Thames’ Barking and Dagenham Foyer was officially opened by Councillor Rocky Gill, Barking and Dagenham cabinet member for education and children’s wellbeing. The Foyer provides accommodation for 116 young people aged 16-24, many of whom have struggled with homelessness, worklessness, addiction, criminal activity and difficult family backgrounds. The iconic Foyer building was purpose built and includes a stateof-the-art media suite, a crèche for young parents, a health and well being suite and a guidance centre run by the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Local partners enable the Foyer to provide support services to hundreds of young people in the Barking and Dagenham community, as well as the Foyer residents. June Barnes, chief executive of East Thames Group, said the Barking and Dagenham Foyer is a place
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where vulnerable young people can come to stay and get the support they need to turn their lives around. “We work with each of our residents to develop individual support plans, so that they receive help with their personal, employment, training and education needs. The aim for all our foyer residents is to secure permanent accommodation and to be in employment or training within two years” June said. The Foyer also has 12 young parents units where they can live with their babies, surrounded by the facilities and expert guidance to enable them to care for their children, and raise their own aspirations.
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Young people living in our foyers
Ashleigh May, 19, is the chair of the foyer’s residents committee and she explained: “Living here has made me more independent, especially financially. I know how to budget now and I know how to take care of myself.” she said. “We are extremely proud of the partnership between the Council and East Thames at Barking and Dagenham Foyer. As a landmark building in Barking town centre, the Foyer also provides all Barking and Dagenham’s young people with high quality information, advice and guidance services, and an opportunity to gain work relevant skills in the creative industries.” Councillor Rocky Gill, Barking and Dagenham cabinet member for education and children’s wellbeing
UNVEILING TALENT “Young people are struggling with crime, gang culture and many other negative influences. It can be difficult to find young role models who are willing to put ideas they have to good use. This exhibition will help because it encourages young people to strive harder and realise there is an alternative.” Richard Mulenda, Havillah’s head of marketing
East Thames helps budding entrepreneurs unveil east London’s best young artists A group of budding young entrepreneurs are tackling the often negative stereotypes of young people in east London. And their weapon of choice is art. Unveiling Talent showcases the work of local young artists, giving many of them their first opportunity to display their work at a public gallery. The works are currently being exhibited until 23rd April at East Gallery, a unique gallery space located in East Thames’ Stratford head office on West Ham Lane. The exhibition has been organised by Havillah, a creative design company run by six young entrepreneurs. The young east Londoners set up Havillah because they realised a lot of young people have talent and drive, but they struggle to take their work to a wider audience and begin a career in the creative industries.
Pamela Gardner, East Thames head of social and economic regeneration, said: “We actively encourage creativity through our Foyers and training programmes, and East Gallery is the perfect space to nurture and develop talent. These young entrepreneurs are an inspiration; using their creative talents to create opportunities for others.” Interested in finding out more about our East Gallery exhibitions? Contact Lucy McCrindle on 0208 5222 061.
East Thames has supported Havillah right from its beginnings: one of its founders used to live at our Focus E15 Foyer and the company is run from Starting Point, East Thames’ start-up business facility in Barking. The company has financial backing from Youth4Youth, a grant-giving project co-ordinated by young people with the help of East Thames and Barclays bank.
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Greener Homes for Redbridge - a greener future Reducing carbon emissions and cutting heating costs for people who live in older homes is a major challenge for the UK housing industry. An innovative East Thames refurbishment project ‘Greener Homes for Redbridge’, is looking at what it takes to improve the water and energy efficiency of 20 street properties in Redbridge, and in the process is providing much-needed affordable family homes. With the first home refurbishment now finished, carbon emissions have been reduced by 64% and it has now been rated as meeting Code for Sustainable Homes Level 1 – a big shift given it had previously been graded as minus 5. These improvements will also reduce their utility bills and make their homes warmer and more comfortable. For the next two years the homes will be monitored to assess energy and water savings, and the effects of residents’ behaviour on each home’s carbon footprint. The findings will be presented to local, regional and central Government, in the hope that lessons learnt will help to shape the approach being taken to improving sustainability of older homes, and bringing empty homes back into use.
Geoff Pearce, East Thames Group; David Copeland, Pellings; Simon Underwood, Wates Living Space; Kevin O'Reilly, East Thames Group and Kym Mead, BRE
Funded by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), Redbridge Council and the NHBC Foundation, the project is being run by East Thames Group in partnership with Redbridge Council, housing contractor Wates Living
Space, BRE (Building Research Establishment) and construction consultancy Pellings. Visit www.east-homes.co.uk/ greenerhomes for project updates.
“We have a good record of developing new homes that are environmentally friendly, but turning old, empty houses into eco-friendly, affordable family homes is an exciting first for us. It’s important that the sector starts taking action to make older homes more sustainable, not only to help reduce emissions, but also to bring older homes back into use as affordable family homes.” Geoff Pearce, Director of Development and Asset Management at East Thames Group
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Newham residents open doors to employment
Residents from East Thames’ Cranberry Lane estate in Newham are a step closer to securing a job, having graduated from the Open Doors course, provided by our regeneration charity East Potential. The successful course has been running for three years and gives people the skills and confidence they need to look for a job and overcome barriers preventing them from working. Participants are encouraged to focus on establishing long term career goals, rather than just finding a job.
The course is part of Families Together, a four-year project supporting families in Tower Hamlets and Newham to break the poverty cycle. It aims to provide support to the whole family by engaging with local schools to improve the educational achievements of local children and young people. It was awarded £800,000 of funding by London Councils. Atricia Stiff, 28, joined the Open Doors course while job hunting: “The personal development workshops really made me think about what I want from my career. It made me realise that I have a lot of transferable skills so I’ve now decided to go for a career in housing. If you want to learn new skills, boost your confidence and
make new friends, it’s the course for you.” Led by East Thames, Families Together is delivered in partnership with Poplar HARCA, Community Links, Bromley By Bow Centre, Limehouse Project and the Institute of Public Policy Research.
2009 Su ccess fo Open Do r ors part icipants 40% fou nd e 31% wen mployment t into hig her educatio n
Youth workers in Newham and Beijing join forces to build stronger communities Members of East Thames’ foyer team joined community workers from Beijing as part of a global community exchange programme that saw them share experiences and ideas on building community cohesion around the Olympics. The exchange programme is organised by Global Xchange, a partnership between the British Council and Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) and matches 15 Newham community workers with a counterpart in Beijing. It aims to give youth workers in Newham a hands-on cultural experience to build their personal and professional development. The Beijing participants spent three weeks here in February, working alongside their hosts and seeing first hand the community work happening around: refugee groups, youth, sports, education, employment and business, housing and the arts.
“Work in UK communities is much more mature (stage) than China and so, I am taking part in this exchange to observe, learn new ideas and share (information about) the ways we do things. I hope to develop a long term relationship with the UK and find further opportunities to work together.” Beijing participant Yao Ge from Youth Business China
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Hackney-born actor returns to east London to meet young filmmakers with Olympic hopes Hackney-born actor Adam Deacon, star of Kidulthood, Adulthood and Shank, presented a film festival in Rainham, celebrating the work of young filmmakers from east London and Essex. The festival is part of a project called Film East, run by East Thames’ social regeneration charity East Potential and media production company Circus Media. The participants, many of whom are East Thames foyer residents, took part in a film production and event management course to produce a series of short films for the festival. The young filmmakers are hoping their creative skills will help them take advantage of the opportunities that London 2012 will bring to the creative industries. Deacon joined the festival audience to watch seven short films, ranging from a spoof horror movie to a drama about the price of a person’s soul. The festival was also organised by young people who learnt event management skills during the Film East course. Film East participant Hodo Mohamud, 22, was offered a work placement witth Circus Media after the course.
Hodo said: “Organising the first Film East festival gave me the chance to get some practical experience. I also helped to publicise the Film East course to other young people – having been on it myself, I know what you can get out of it.” Regarding Film East, London Mayor Boris Johnson said: “Film East means young Londoners can build up valuable experience and develop the expertise to they need to get jobs in the creative
sector, which is such an important part of the London economy.” Film East is funded by the London Development Agency, and administered in partnership with Arts Council England and London Councils. Merchant Taylors also support the project, which forms part of the London 2012 Inspire programme.
About East Thames East Thames Group provides more than 13,500 affordable homes in east London and Essex. We provide homes for rent, affordable home ownership and residential care homes. But we’re more than a landlord – we’re also a property developer and provider of employment, training and community programmes. Our mission is to make a positive and lasting contribution to the neighbourhoods where we work. And our focus is firmly on east London – this has been the case since we started as a small housing association in 1979 – and that commitment hasn’t changed.
If you would like to contact us for any reason, please contact the Marcoms team: fiona.mcewan@east-thames.co.uk 020 8522 2042 llewellyn.annandale@east-thames.co.uk 020 8536 8898
We welcome feedback on this magazine, or on any aspect of our work. East Thames Focus is produced by East Thames Group, Marcoms Team, 29-35 West Ham Lane, Stratford E15 4PH Tel: 020 8522 2000 Fax: 020 8522 2001 Email: marcoms@east-thames.co.uk Web: www.east-thames.co.uk
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