Employee Communications Bulletin by Jharold

Executive Team Bulletin April 2015

In this issue:

Welcome to the second edition of the Executive Team

New Board Members

bulletin.

Board Committee Membership

Since the last edition of the bulletin we have welcomed

Dublin City Council Technical Dialogue

Systems Thinking - Repairs

five new Board Members who are already making a valuable contribution.

Technical Review and Asset Management

Several new schemes have Older Persons' Housing Strategy

been approved and lots of new projects and systems are

New Schemes

FInance News

being introduced by all Departments. This bulletin provides a short overview on

News from IT

some of the main developments.

HR Updates

If you have any feedback on Risk Management Framework

the bulletin please send it to James at jharold@cluid.ie.

New Board Members At the Board meeting on 16th April we were pleased to welcome the five new individuals who were elected as Directors of the Clúid Board. This brings the number of Board Members to 13. The new Board Members are: 1. Noel Beecher Noel is Head of Transport Governance at the National Transport Authority. He will bring financial and business skills to the Board. 2. Michael Cleary Michael is the Founder and Managing Director of Cleary, McCabe & Associates, a property and asset management firm. He brings property development, asset management and construction skills to the Clúid Board. 3. Avril McDermott Avril is a former HR Director of Hewlett Packard. She has a background in HR and organisational development. 4. Lance O'Brien Lance is Manager of Strategy and International Relations at Teagasc. He has research and housing policy skills and was a founder member of Threshold. 5. Jennifer Ward Jennifer is a Consultant and was formally Strategic Relationship Manager of AIB. She brings financial and banking skills and knowledge to the Clúid Board. Our website has been updated with the biographies and photos of the new Board Members.

Board Committee Membership The introduction of the new Board Members has given the opportunity to revise the membership of the Clúid Board Committees. The Building Our Capacity Committee has been newly reconvened. The Committee Members are:

Growing Our Business Committee

Serving Our Customers Committee

Peter Fullam (Chair)

Fiona Barron (Chair)

Michael Cleary

Orla Barry

Jennifer Ward

Niall Morrissey

Karen Kennedy – Executive Lead

Neil Bolton – Executive Lead

Mick Concannon

Christine Dibelius

Caroline Haskins

Kath Cottier Tracy Boyle

Building Our Capacity Committee

Finance & Audit Committee

Derek McCabe (Chair)

Penelope Kenny (Chair)

Andrew O’Flanagan

David Burke,

Avril McDermott

Noel Beecher,

Lance O’Brien

Peter McDevitt*

Jacqui Synnott - Executive Lead

Domhnall Cahill* Cathal Callan - Executive Lead Elaine Cronin

*Co-opted Committee Members

Dublin City Council Technical Dialogue ClĂşid has responded to a request for a technical dialogue with Dublin City Council. The dialogue is around three different sites in Cherry Orchard, Belcamp and Oscar Traynor Road. To progress to the next stages, ClĂşid will need to partner with other organisations to form a consortium to deliver residential (private and social) and other facilities on the sites. All Departments within the business are being engaged in this discussion.

Systems Thinking - Repairs At the Board meeting on 16th April, Christine Dibelius and Derek Cassidy presented the findings of the pilot repairs service using Systems Thinking methodology. The pilot service has led to improvements in repairs in terms of tenant contact rates, end to end times for repairs, and overall delivery of the 'right repair at the right time'.

The pilot service will be extended to the South East for a year to demonstrate that the successes of the pilot scheme can be replicated in a larger geographic area.

Technical Review and Asset Management The Operations Department will shortly commence a technical review. The Technical and Systems Thinking teams will analyse technical demands from the first point of contact and see how systems can be improved. 20% of ClĂşid's stock will be surveyed each year over the next five years. The survey will inform us as to how our properties are performing and what works we need to carry out. The knowledge gained from the survey will ensure that the properties continue to provide comfortable homes for ClĂşid residents.

Older Persons' Housing Strategy The Adrian Norridge Housing Research Bursary has been awarded to a team led by the Centre for Gerontology and Rehabilitation, University College Cork for a study of the housing and support needs of Clúid's older tenants. The study will greatly assist Clúid in the development of an Older Persons' Housing Strategy.

There are two strategic elements to the Strategy:

1) Supporting older people to stay in their own homes by providing physical adaptations as well as care and support 2) Researching the outcomes of the sheltered housing model.

The strategy will be completed by the end of autumn and a launch event will be organised.

New Schemes The following new schemes have been approved by the Board and Executive Team: 

Colcotts, Wexford: 39 new build houses. This scheme is 1.5km from

Wexford town centre. There is strong demand in Wexford Town for family housing. 

Rosmor, Donegal Town: Acquisition of 18 three-bedroom houses - 6 semi-detached; 2 duplex. This scheme is in a quiet residential estate in close proximity to Donegal Town. There is high demand for good quality housing accommodation in Donegal Town.



Carlinn Hall, Dundalk: Acquisition of 5 units - range of three and fourbedroom houses - duplex, semi-detached, mid and end terrace. There is high demand for accommodation in Dundalk and Clúid already has a major presence here. The units in this scheme have been built to a high standard.



2 Slieve Row, Dundalk: This is a derelict/vacant house in Dundalk. Louth County Council has asked Clúid to refurbish the house and will transfer it to us. The refurbishment will make a positive contribution to the locality and house a family in need of accommodation. There are potentially four other units that can be built or refurbished in this estate.



The Belfry, Stepaside, Co. Dublin: Acquisition of 2 three-bedroom apartments. Clúid already owns 45 units in this scheme of 137 units. We also manage 10 units on behalf of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council.



Hyde Road, Limerick City: 28 vacant properties:14 ground floor onebedroom units and 14 four-bedroom units over three floors. The units were first occupied in 1955 and for various reasons have become very difficult to re-let. Clúid will refurbish the units into 20 two and threebedroom dwellings.

Hyde Road, Limerick (now)

Hyde Road, Limerick

(after)

Finance News The Finance Team will be introducing some new systems over the coming months. An invoice approval system will bring about a more efficient and consistent invoicing process and a revised Sage accounts and reporting tool will generate management accounts which will be closer to real time. The Brixx project management software mentioned in the last bulletin is also being introduced.

A tendering process is underway for Auditors for 2015. This follows a decision by the Board to rotate our Auditors.

News from IT The IT team has been working closely with the Finance and Systems Thinking teams in the implementation of new IT systems.

At the same time, the team has been working on improving the broadband in Clúid's offices and increasing access to mobile working for staff. A lot of work has also recently gone into disaster recovery/business continuity.

HR Updates The HR team has been busy with a number of new initiatives: 

Learning & Development: currently all Clúid employees are allocated funding in the training budget and training has been booked on an ad hoc basis. Now the intention is to split the training budget to allow for essential training and developmental/aspirational training. A plan will be put forward and discussed with each department head.



People Support Process: the PSP has been very successfully rolled in to the majority of staff. The HR team will be reviewing the intervention over the next few months.



Student Placement: the recruitment for student/graduate placements for the Housing Officer qualification in DIT is progressing well. Once HR has identified the locations for the students they will begin the process of

assigning ClĂşid Mentors to them.

Risk Management Framework Amongst other projects, the Legal Team has been focusing on the development and implementation of a Risk Management Framework.

Consultation on the Framework with Department Heads is underway. This stage will be followed by the collation of data and the creation of Risk Registers. Some of the information will be useful for the development of ClĂşid's Disaster Recovery Plan so the Legal Team will be linking with the IT Team about this.