Spotlight on
Vale of Glamorgan
Spring 2012
Oak Court retirement scheme celebrate 20 year anniversary Also in this edition...
Working together to meet local needs
Minister visits super-green scheme to view good practice
Spotlight on Vale of Glamorgan - Spring 2012
Welcome to the Spring 2012 edition of Spotlight on the Vale of Glamorgan Staff from Oak Court retirement scheme help residents celebrate 20 year anniversary
I do not need to say that we are all still facing very challenging economic conditions and now more than ever we recognise the importance of delivering excellent customer service, supporting innovation to meet demand and, quite simply, going the extra mile to help our residents and their communities to help themselves. We are committed to being green, to helping our residents deal with money-related problems, and to as many of them as possible up-andrunning online. We’re also working with various partners to help people get into, or get back into work or training. Then there are our latest developments within the business including news of our £101m Development programme, our
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new RP strategy and how we’re approaching self-assessment. And we’re absolutely thrilled to be able to tell you that we’ve been recognised as the top not-for-profit organisation in Wales in the Sunday Times Best Companies List 2012. So I hope you will take five minutes to read this newsletter and that it proves to be useful and informative. Finally we always value your feedback so don’t hesitate to get in touch and tell us what you think, about Spotlight, the news within it, or any other aspect of our business.
Anne Hinchey Chief Executive
Spotlight on Vale of Glamorgan - Spring 2012
Working together to meet local needs
We have signed a covenant promising top quality services to people living in the rural Vale of Glamorgan. Our Operations Director Shayne Hembrow (pictured above) joined Cllr Paul Church, Cabinet member for Housing & Community Safety at the Vale of Glamorgan Council and representatives from Newydd, Hafod and United Welsh Housing Associations to sign the rural housing pledge last week. The four housing associations are currently developing new homes in the Vale and to ensure the needs of the local residents are met the four partners have pledged to give appropriate priority to local people who need homes. There is also a commitment to high design standards for new
developments in the rural parts of the Vale, an affirmation of housing associations’ ethical stance, a commitment to respect the countryside and a long term contribution to sustainable rural communities. Councillor Church said: “Bringing the four partners together shows the Vale of Glamorgan Council’s awareness of the sensitive issue of building new homes in country areas together with our ongoing commitment to help citizens in rural areas find solutions to the acute housing problem.” Shayne Hembrow said: “There is high demand for good quality, affordable homes in the Vale and we are working hard to address this with two new developments in Barry. This pledge will help all housing providers work together for the best of the community.”
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Spotlight on Vale of Glamorgan - Spring 2012
Minister visits to view good practice
Huw Lewis with WWHA staff Paul Wyatt, Lyndon Griffiths and Alison Pearce
HUW Lewis, the Minister for Housing, Regeneration and Heritage, has visited our latest development in the Vale of Glamorgan to view good practice regarding eco-homes.
The 16 properties on the outskirts of St Athan were completed in Spring 2010 and have been fully occupied under the Vale of Glamorgan Council’s Choice Based Lettings Scheme.
The Minister visited Chapel Close in St Athan early in March on a fact finding mission regarding ecodevelopments in the area.
“Providing greener homes can ease the pressure on both the environment and hard pressed households. In the current economic climate every penny counts and the energy saving measures in many of these homes can help reduce household consumption bills,” said the Minister, pictured above (second left) with Paul Wyatt, Lyndon Griffiths and Alison Pearce from WWHA.
Chapel Close was a Welsh Government pilot scheme to build environmentally-friendly new homes helping to reduce residents’ fuel bills as well as cutting carbon emissions.
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Spotlight on Vale of Glamorgan - Spring 2012 He spent time looking around the home of Natalie Pearson (pictured below and right), who lives in Chapel Close with her children Sienna, five, six-year-old Seren and Summer, 9.
alter the temperature as and when required on the second and third floor, although upstairs keeps very warm and the insulation is fantastic.
“Since living here in our four bed house in Chapel Close, Sienna who is disabled and has a long-term illness, has started to walk and is trying to toddle around which came as a nice surprise,” said Natalie.
“And all the children love living here because they can play outside with their friends. When we were living in Boverton I didn’t feel safe in letting them go outside to play but living here has really improved our lives for the better.”
“Her chest is also much better and I think that the filters in this house which bring in clean air could have influenced the improvement in her health. Everything that has happened to our lives since we started living here has been fantastic. “Our energy bills have not increased from the past when we were living in a three bed property. Now, with an extra bedroom, it is still around £120 a month and I keep the heating on downstairs at a constant 21° as advised and
ASB Steering Group WWHA are members of the Vale’s newly formed ASB Management Steering Group, which meets quarterly to discuss the processes in place and discuss new initiatives, funding opportunities, etc.
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Spotlight on Vale of Glamorgan - Spring 2012
More affordable homes for the Vale Developing more high quality, affordable, sustainable homes for people in Wales is a major priority for WWHA. WWHA’s current five year £101m development programme includes innovative projects for residents with autism and learning difficulties, together with general needs housing and extra care facilities. The programme is supported by £15m social housing grant funding from our partner local authorities and the Welsh Government. We have agreed a package deal with developer Taylor Wimpey for the delivery of 20 houses on a larger development site in Barry of 67 houses.
Works have commenced and the handover of the properties is likely to take place in two stages later this year. This will provide 10 x two bedroom four person houses, 8 x three bedroom five person houses and 2 x four bedroom six person houses. We are also looking to acquire a small site in Barry to deliver six flats. Discussions are ongoing with the planning authority and we are hopeful of agreeing terms with the vendor very soon. Along with other RSL’s we have also agreed terms to deliver much needed affordable housing at the Barry Waterfront development. It is expected that the first occupation will take place 2014.
Continued investment in our properties During the last six months of 2011 we spent £5.7m on refurbishing our homes across Wales and we are delighted to say that we are on course to achieve the Welsh Housing Quality Standard by the end of 2012. Across Wales we’ve renewed kitchens in over 400 homes (£1.3m). One example of these works in the Vale is at Salisbury Close, Penarth, where we have
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invested £60,000 replacing the kitchens. We’ve also spent over £600k refurbishing bathrooms Waleswide, including Hanover Court retirement scheme in Dinas Powys. We’re also investing a further £1.2m in a major window renewal programme to help make our homes more comfortable, warmer, cheaper to heat and less likely to need expensive maintenance work in the near future.
Spotlight on Vale of Glamorgan - Spring 2012
WWHA properties for sale in the Vale We offers a variety of tenancy options for older people who wish to rent or buy their own home. For people who wish to buy, we manage 22 Retirement for Sale (RFS) and Leasehold Schemes for the Elderly (LSE) across Wales offering a range of prices and localities. Should you know of someone looking to buy a property in the Vale of Glamorgan area, we currently have the following properties for sale:
Bridgeman Court, Penarth
Byron Court, Llantwit Major
• No. 9 - 2 bed first floor apartment - contact Peter Alan Estate Agents
• No. 13 - One bed first floor apartment – details from Peter Alan Estate Agents
• No. 3 - 1 bed ground floor apartment – contact Peter Alan Estate Agents
Byron Court is situated in the quiet village on Boverton, near to the historic town of Llantwit Major. It is situated at the end of a cul-desac, where the surrounding gardens offer quiet, peaceful surroundings to live in.
The scheme comprises of 34 one and two bedroomed apartments over three floors, overlooking parkland, woodland, communal gardens and/or the Bristol Channel. Residents enjoy the benefits of our 24/7 Emergency Alarm Centre and all properties are fitted with emergency pull cords in every room and personal alarm pendants are provided to all residents.
The scheme consists of 19 private home ownership apartments five of which are one bedroom and fourteen of which are two bedroom. Both schemes enjoy the added benefit of a part-time scheme manager service.
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Spotlight on Vale of Glamorgan - Spring 2012
Oak Court celebrates 20th anniversary in style
WWHA staff dressed as Alice in Wonderland characters helped residents celebrate in style on their special 20th Anniversary day. Photographs of residents in their younger days were on show and caused much laughter as everyone
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tried to put a name to the faces no easy task! Sally, Scheme Manager said “It was lovely to see everyone enjoying themselves on this very special day and it was great fun dressing up!�
Spotlight on Vale of Glamorgan - Spring 2012
Good healthy home grown fun
GROWING your own fruit and veg has now got that little bit easier for many of our residents. Thanks to our new Environment Fund 28 resident-led eco-projects are now up and running with a big emphasis on helping groups of residents to grow their own produce. Owen Jones, Environment and Sustainability Officer for WWHA, said: “We know that many of our residents enjoy gardening and want to make the most of the areas they have available to them. “We also know that more and more people are concerned about the environment and want to do what they can to help have a positive impact on where they live, as well
as helping to reduce their carbon footprint. “We really want to see unproductive land brought back into use by residents, and growing fruit and vegetables is a great way to stay fit and healthy and keep food bills down. We want to hear from residents who have formed a gardening club or would like to, and who want to get new projects off the ground, or develop existing facilities.” In the Vale, residents at Oak Court retirement scheme in Penarth have spent a £500 grant on water butts and storage for tools, whilst at Hanover Court in Dinas Powys resident gardeners bought planters, mini green houses and water butts.
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Spotlight on Vale of Glamorgan - Spring 2012
Strong financial performance for WWHA The Association has just closed another strong year of financial performance. Firstly, as part of the new WG regulatory framework, we received a pass for financial viability judgement which is the highest rating awarded and demonstrates that we are adequately resourced to meet current and future business and financial commitments. Secondly, our results for the year show both a surplus and a positive free cash flow. This has allowed us to invest over £30m in the last three years in our existing properties to improve the quality
of our homes. With a further £10m investment planned this year, we are well on track to meeting the Welsh Housing Quality Standard (WHQS) by the target date of 2012. We already have £35m of funding in place to fund future development. Having brought into management 165 newly developed properties this year alone, we have plans to bring in a further 600 over the next 5 years. To do this will require further funding and we are well placed to do this, with low gearing and a large portfolio of unsecured high quality properties on our books.
Mortgage rescue Our mortgage rescue scheme is continuing to have a positive impact on the lives of many householders at risk of repossession. We are one of the few associations to operate a self-funded scheme now that the grant funding from the Welsh Government has stopped. We are still experiencing considerable demand and are committed to continuing the mortgage rescue scheme in order to help reduce homelessness. So far we’ve invested more than £2m in the scheme and have:
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• Purchased 31 properties outright – where the residents have now become our tenants. This includes 3 properties which have been purchased without grant as part of the Associations self funded scheme. A further 4 households have accepted offers of assistance as part of this scheme. • Completed 26 loans to enable the occupiers to remain in their properties as owners
To find out more our mortgage rescue scheme call freephone 0800 052 2526.Or go to: www.wwha.net/OurServices MortgageRescue/
Spotlight on Vale of Glamorgan - Spring 2012
Awards round-up Since our last edition of Spotlight we’ve gained the following recognition: • 2012 Sunday Times Best
Companies. In 2012 WWHA has been named the top not-for-profit organisation in Wales and ranked 8th, up from 14th in 2011.
We are also the only Welsh housing association to be awarded the coveted three stars award by Best Companies.
“I’m absolutely thrilled that we’ve been recognised as the top not-for-profit organisation in Wales, and, that we’ve made the top ten NFP organisations to work for in the UK. And to have been awarded the highest rating of three stars is fantastic,” says Anne Hinchey.
“We pride ourselves on being a values-driven company – to be fair, open, supportive, efficient and responsible – to our staff as well as everyone with whom, and for whom, we work.
• WWHA were delighted to be named in the Top 30 Family Friendly Firms in the UK by Working Families, an organisation which campaigns for work-life balance. We were one of only two Welsh organisations to make the list which is dominated by blue chip firms. • Our Stoneleigh Manor More Options Homelessness Project in partnership with Powys County Council won the Cymorth Cymru Promoting Independence
2011 Good Commissioning Award. This project was also shortlisted for a CIH Welsh Housing Award ‘Making Best Use of Stock.” • North Wales Financial Inclusion Forum, of which we are a member organisation, won the 2011 Promoting Independence Award 2011 Service User Involvement Award for it’s ‘My Home… Making Every Penny Count’ DVD. The DVD has since won a second award – the MoneyActionNet Award 2011 by social action information provider Lemos & Crane. • WWHA residents have scooped two TPAS Cymru awards. The groups from the Garw Valley, Bridgend, and Barracksfield estate in Wrexham, beat off stiff competition from other social landlords’ groups in Wales. • Our Powell Road Eco-Friendly Regeneration Project in Flintshire was shortlisted for an Outstanding Achievement in Wales CIH UK Housing Award. • Our retirement scheme Sydney Hall Court in Connah’s Quay, run by scheme manager Rob Holmes, was shortlisted for The Cinnamon Trust’s Pet Friendly Care Home of the Year Award. • We’ve achieved the Gold Standard in RSPCA Housing Footprint.
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Spotlight on Vale of Glamorgan - Spring 2012
Eco-friendly initiatives We are committed to being green across our organisation, as well as supporting our residents to be able to enjoy the many benefits of being environmentally friendly. and we have just passed our annual Green Dragon audit, reaching Level 2.
Picured is the first bore hole being started at Clos Pontganol for the installation of the ground source heat pumps. One of the 10 bore holes will go nearly 200 meters (aproximately 600 feet) down.
We are undertaking a wide range of projects, led by Owen Jones, our Environment & Sustainability Officer. We have been installing Ground Source Heat Pumps at Clos Pontganol, Llangynidr, together with additional sites at Crickhowell, Llanfair Cereinion and Flint. These literally groundbreaking projects are going to have a huge impact in helping residents to save money on their energy bills. Some residents in Maes Yr Onnen, Crickhowell are currently
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paying £150 to £200 per month on their electricity bills, and they are now going to benefit from new windows, improved insulation and Ground Source Heat Pumps. Further measures such as removing their electric showers and replacing them with mixer showers will also help to reduce their bills. Ground Source Heat Pumps are amongst the most sustainable space and domestic hot water heating systems currently available and residents will gain from having greater control of their heating and in most cases it will be cheaper to run.
Spotlight on Vale of Glamorgan - Spring 2012
Other projects include: •
Fuel switching
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Continuing to trial voltage optimisation devices
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Working with the Environment Agency to develop flood plans for our properties which may be affected.
We’ve also invested more than £15,000 from our Environment Fund in 29 projects across Wales. These are all resident-led projects which have applied to us for grassroots funding. Projects include developing biodiversity gardens, installation of raised beds for accessible planting,
to purchase of seeds, tools, greenhouses and other equipment. We are continually working hard to make sure that, where possible, we use and incorporate environmentally friendly technologies into every aspect of our new developments as well as in our refurbishment programmes. However, uncertainty around funding has unfortunately resulted in us having to put on hold our plans to install solar PV panels on the roofs of our suitable properties. This was due to factors beyond our control and we are among many other social housing providers across the UK in this position.
Picured is the former bin store at Western Court, Bridgend, which has now been transformed by the residents into a greenhouse, thanks to a £200 contribution from the WWHA Environment Fund.
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Spotlight on Vale of Glamorgan - Spring 2012
Wi-fi broadband access for older residents
Self-assessment and planning for the future
We are committed to providing broadband WiFi access at all our 100 older persons schemes across Wales within the next two years, investing £1m in the project.
Like many other housing associations we conduct rigorous self-assessment exercises to look at how well we are performing and to help us plan for the future.
We are already working on a pilot scheme at Ty Pontrhun, one of our retirement schemes in Merthyr Tydfil, in partnership with Welsh provider Boynes. Four lines, routers and boosters will be up and running at the scheme from March 2012 providing 1MG download capacity for each resident. The cost to residents will be an affordable £1 per household per week.
We always welcome constructive feedback about any aspect of our business, our properties, or the services we deliver. To find out more about our plans and self assessment process please go to: www.wwha.net/AboutUs/ CorporateInformation/ Performance/InspectionInformation
Upskilling with Communities 2.0 and Take Ctrl We’re also working with a number of partners to upskill any of our residents, regardless of age or previous experience, to be able to enjoy the benefits of digital technology. In Merthyr Tydfil we’re working with Communities 2.0 on the Connect Merthyr Project. This is supporting older people to learn how to use a variety of platforms on the internet inclusing email, Skype, search engines, Twitter and YouTube. It is also helping them to use a variety of other
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digital equipment including mobile phones, cameras and video cameras. Welsh Finance minister Jane Hutt visited the project recently to see for herself the incredibly positive impact it is having on its older participants. And in North Wales we are hosting Jen Bailey, co-ordinator of the Take Ctrl Project. This is a partnership between seven housing associations including WWHA. For more details go to: www.takectrl.org
Spotlight on Vale of Glamorgan - Spring 2012
Employment and training opportunities We are continuing to work in partnership with our contractors and others to provide work and training to people within many of the communities where we work.
• Working with JobMatch to train two dedicated Energy Advisers who will spread the word among residents as to how to get the best fuel deals and how best to cut costs.
Donna Samuel, one of two returners to work who have secured permanent jobs with WWHA thanks to JobMatch, Bridgend. Donna recently met First Minister Carwyn Jones (pictured below) at a local Health and Wellbeing event, and she took the opportunity to explain how finding a full-time job had transformed her life.
• Supporting our contractors and suppliers to create apprenticeships in electrics and window fitting. • Creating work placements through JobCentre Plus and the Department of Work and Pensions’Work Programme. • And we’re exploring what job opportunities we may be able to create through recycling.
New Resident Participation Strategy We’ve updated our resident Participation strategy. If you’d like to find out more please go to: www.wwha.net/ NR/rdonlyres/6C6733C0-FA834302-912C-F846D2D3C68F/0/ InTouchWinter20112.pdf Many of our contractors have taken on apprentices as a result of the work we commission them to do. Some other example of how we are supporting people to get back into work, include:
Or you can read the strategy in full at: www.wwha.net/NR/ rdonlyres/10FD0DC5-E4DD4B9C-9FC0-EF0F5A83AA1B/0/ WHALTPS2011.pdf
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Spotlight on Vale of Glamorgan - Spring 2012
Key
Contacts
Head Office 3 Alexandra Gate, Ffordd Pengam, Tremorfa, Cardiff CF24 2UD Tel: 0800 052 2526 Fax: 029 2041 5380 Website: www.wwha.net
Flint Office Unit 2 Acorn Business Park Aber Road, Flint, Flintshire CH6 5YN Email: info@wwha.co.uk Minicom: 0800 052 5205 Follow us on @WWHA
STRATEGIC Anne Hinchey, Chief Executive 029 2041 5335 anne.hinchey@wwha.co.uk
Tony Wilson, Finance Director 029 2041 5346 tony.wilson@wwha.co.uk
Shayne Hembrow, Operations Director 029 2041 5362 shayne.hembrow@wwha.co.uk
HOUSING Lynnette Glover, Head of Housing 029 2041 5365 lynnette.glover@wwha.co.uk
Chris Walton, Housing Manager (Gen. Needs) 029 2041 4078 chris.walton@wwha.co.uk
Jackie Bloxham, Housing Manager (Retirement/Supported Housing) 029 2041 4083 jackie.bloxham@wwha.co.uk
DEVELOPMENT Nikki Cole, Head of Development 029 2041 4093 nikki.cole@wwha.co.uk
PROPERTY SERVICES Steve Porter, Head of Property Services 029 2041 5373 steve.porter@wwha.co.uk
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