The Star Awards
Winners’ Guide 2021
Introduction Dear colleagues It’s an honour to bring you this book to celebrate the fantastic achievements of colleagues from across our organisation.
This is the 15th year that we’ve celebrated colleagues through the Star Awards and recognised the great work that takes place every day at Places for People. It’s a very special event, and I’d like to thank everyone who has taken the time to nominate and praise their colleagues. A total of 440 people were put forward for a Star Award this year. All of them have gone above and beyond and should be very proud of what they’ve achieved. Detailing all the winners, this book shines a light on colleagues’ inspirational stories and how they’ve made a positive difference to customers and each other.
This year also recognises the legacy of David Cowans with a Lifetime Achievement Award. I’d like to congratulate David on winning this special award and for his many years of service. His vision and leadership, combined with our talented colleagues, have been instrumental in making Places for People what it is today. Please continue to nominate our colleagues that put People First and make a positive difference for our colleagues, customers and communities. There are so many people across our organisation who are doing incredible things and deserve this recognition.
Once again, thank you to those who have nominated and congratulations to everyone who has been recognised. I look forward to next year’s event and reading more of your amazing stories.
Greg Reed Chief Executive Officer
The Star Awards
Bright Spark Award Harrison O’Brien Repairs Admin Officer
Already praised as exceptional by his colleagues, Harrison took his experience as an apprentice and turned that into a series of learning and process guides for other apprentices, helping them to garner experience from his experience. This is a truly an innovative approach and he has a bright future ahead of him and will no doubt continue to make himself and the organisation proud in the future.
Bright Spark Award
The Star Awards
Employee of the Year Award Kitsum Cornwall Compliance Coordinator
Kitsum put People First throughout lockdown and supported our customers, reassuring people who had anxieties about our maintenance colleagues visiting their homes while restrictions were in place. Her efforts have resulted in us achieving 100% gas safety check compliance in her region, keeping our customers safe.
Employee of the Year Award
The Star Awards
External Customer Excellence Award Leanne Sharpe Place Manager
Leanne worked alongside local agencies in Sheffield to support two of our customers move into a home that better suited their needs. Collaborating with social services and the local ambulance service, Leanne even sourced carpets and cooking equipment for the couple.
External Customer Excellence Award
The Star Awards
Going the Extra Mile Award Angela Allen Services Manager
Establishing a Covid-19 vaccine clinic in Tyneside, Angela’s commitment and compassion has seen her help more than 100 young people and colleagues receive their vaccine.
Going the Extra Mile Award
The Star Awards
Wellbeing Award Neil Jones Emily Horrocks Head of Procurement
Neil and Emily worked tirelessly to make sure colleagues across the organisation remained safe during the pandemic. By establishing an efficient and effective system of ordering vital PPE equipment for our colleagues, they made sure our colleagues had the PPE they needed to safely continue making a difference to our customers’ lives.
Wellbeing Award
Procurement Partner
The Star Awards
Internal Customer Excellence Award Emma White
Tenancy Enforcement Manager
Emma has gone above and beyond in supporting our customers, showing strength and empathy in helping an older customer in need get back to his best, as well as supporting a mother and young daughter relocate to a home that better suited their needs.
Internal Customer Excellence Award
The Star Awards
Leading Change Award Lainey Parkin Roxanne Ridgard Place Manager Housing Officer
Place Manager, Lainey, has helped revolutionise IT processes for colleagues. Working with IT, Lainey helped create a new effective inspection form, simplifying the inspection process for colleagues. Lainey also established a training programme to help colleagues across the organisation get up to speed on the new form. Our second winner is Roxanne. Roxanne has committed herself to new ways of working, helping introduce new systems to colleagues, making it easier for us to communicate with each other and our customers.
Leading Change Award
The Star Awards
Making a Difference Award Lynne Anderson Team Leader (Older Person Service)
Taking a collaborative approach, Lynne has worked with local agencies in Scotland to support our older customers and people in need, making a truly positive difference.
Making a Difference Award
The Star Awards
People’s Choice Award Donna Green Housing and Wellbeing Advisor
Donna has received fantastic feedback from our customers and has been described as “one in a million”. Helping a customer in need find a new home and sourcing essential items, Donna has shown real SPIRIT in helping them live their best life.
People’s Choice Award
The Star Awards
Step Forward Award Leila Stewart Team Leader Income Collection
Going above and beyond to support colleagues, Leila led the process of introducing Income Collection colleagues in Scotland to their peers in Affordable Housing, helping to form new relationships and spark collaboration.
Step Forward Award
The Star Awards
Team of the Year Award South Tyneside Women’s Aid
This is a very special award, one that is being equally shared among 10 brilliant colleagues at South Tyneside Women’s Aid. Providing a safe, secure and supportive environment for women and children at risk from domestic violence and abuse, our colleagues secured more than £55,000 in funding to support people during lockdown. This meant that 53 women and 58 children were able to move into a safe and secure environment.
Team of the Year Award
The Star Awards
SUPPORT Award Lewis Ashworth
Senior Commercial Gas Contracts Manager
Showing fantastic commitment to our customers, Lewis coordinated an emergency response after a burst pipe caused flooding, affecting a community of 260 customers. Lewis kept our customers and colleagues up to date with the changing situation and within a matter of hours had re-established services for our customers.
Support Award
The Star Awards
POSITIVE Award Jessica Keegan Tom Abbott
Audit Data Analyst Lettings and Marketing Manager
Our first winner, Jessica, a member of our 2020 Emerging Talent cohort, has shown true commitment to the organisation and her colleagues. Sharing her skills, always approaching new projects with a positive attitude and getting involved, Jess is a Digital Champion, Respect Ambassador and a member of our Inclusion and Belonging group. Our second winner, Tom, does all he can to give our customers a positive experience. His attitude and determination when presented with challenges has been an inspiration to Tom’s colleagues.
Positive Award
The Star Awards
INTEGRITY Award Neil Schofield
Regional Maintenance Manager
Neil has shown fantastic commitment to our customers, helping solve their problems in his role as Regional Maintenance Manager for London and the South East. Neil always makes time for others and his ‘can-do’ approach makes him an inspiration to colleagues.
Integrity Award
The Star Awards
RESPECT Award Nicola Heaton
Place Manager, Customer Delivery North East
Nicola embraced a People First approach, collaborating with colleagues and communicating with customers to help improve the safety at one of our communities in Sheffield.
Respect Award
The Star Awards
Innovation Award Luke Craig
General Manager (All Saints Green)
Luke showed true innovation when he discovered an app that helped monitor the safety of our colleagues who work alone when visiting our communities. Leading on the implementation of the app from start to finish, Luke is helping keep our colleagues safe across the organisation.
Innovation Award
The Star Awards
TOGETHER Award Sheffield and Leeds Place Team
After a power surge resulted in vital water pumping equipment being cut off from serving a community of 95 customers all over the age of 55, our Sheffield and Leeds Place Team sprang into action. Putting People First, they delivered food and water to our customers and supported them while repairs were undertaken.
Together Award
The Star Awards
Chairman’s Award James Brown Services Manager
Since joining the organisation in 2003, James has played a key role in the development of our supported living services across the country. James embodies our SPIRIT values in every sense. His passion for developing and delivering services to support people experiencing homelessness is inspiring to everyone who works with him.
Chairman’s Award
The Star Awards
Lifetime Achievement Award David Cowans Former Chief Executive
After deciding not to go to university, David stepped straight into the housing sector taking a training opportunity at Newcastle City Council. Since then, he has rapidly risen through the ranks but never lost sight of his roots. David’s arrival at what was North British Housing in June 1997, marked the beginning of a huge transformation. His experience of working on the frontline meant that he became Chief Executive with a genuine understanding of the challenges communities faced and a passion for making a difference to society. Focused on staying one step ahead of market change, his mantra was to invent the future in our sector — and he’s done just that. When he joined the business, the turnover was £111m. There were 1,500 colleagues and it owned or managed 43,000 homes.
Lifetime Achievement Award
His vision and leadership fuelled significant growth and diversification, cementing Places for People as a leading placemaker. The numbers speak for themselves with turnover rising to more than £800m in 2021, more than 9,000 colleagues now part of the organisation and 219,000 homes owned or managed. But despite Places for People’s extensive growth, David has ensured the business has never lost sight of its core social purpose. He has shown a relentless drive to make people’s lives better and that’s seen him spearhead charities, launch initiatives to support young people and carve a reputation as someone who drives positive change. Championing people that live in social housing, he launched our Good Neighbour Awards in 2010 to celebrate unsung heroes in local communities and give them the recognition they deserve.
He’s also passionate about helping colleagues to reach their full potential, providing them with support, opportunities and the confidence to shine. And it’s this passion that led to the launch of our Star Awards programme back in 2007. There is no denying that David’s achievements, vision, and inspirational leadership has made him one of the biggest and most influential figures in housing. He has created a tremendous legacy at Places for People and within the sector, making him a very worthy winner of this lifetime achievement award.