Are you looking for a new job? Want to find out more about North Wales Housing?
We’re attending the Conwy Job Expo on Thursday 12th May, come and see us and have a chat. FREE to attend. Details:
Conwy Job Expo
Thursday 12th May, 2pm – 7pm
The Barn, Eirias Events Centre, Colwyn Bay.
The maintenance team are currently working on a big backlog of jobs.
However, due to factors outside of our control we are working with a limited number of staff. Jobs are therefore taking longer than usual in some cases.
We are prioritising jobs based on risk and the length of time they were initially reported. Customer Services will be in touch to arrange an appointment
Please bear with us as we work through this very busy period. Thank you for your patience.
After looking carefully at how the Team can work whilst still socially distancing, from this week Rakes and Ladders will be re-starting grounds maintenance services.
They will be grass cutting, weed-killing, litter picking and any small work clearing with hand tools.
They will start with a long cut to the grass and then, on follow up visits, reduce the length of the grass. This technique will be required to protect the grass and the mowers.
Thank you for patience.
The Team at our Repairs office have been busy re-creating their own Bake-off to fundraise for St David’s Hospice.
Every Monday a contestant brought in a cake they had baked. The first 8 people to buy a slice received a score slip and scored the cake out of 5 and left a comment.
The last cake has been baked, the scores counted and the winner is… Stephanie Clueit, Assistant Director Homes! In second place was Rebecca Kennerley and in third was Angela Croghan.
The initiative helped raise £82 for St David’s Hospice.
The North Wales Housing Repairs Team celebrated their 5th birthday in December 2015. The Team had a little birthday party to mark the occasion, celebrating over tea and cake on Friday 15th January 2016.
The Repairs service was previously contracted out. When the contractor went out of business in December 2010 North Wales Housing decided to bring the service in-house saving 8 jobs just before Christmas.
The Repairs team have since gone from strength to strength, now employing a team of 20. Five of those originally employed are still with us today. Andrew Adderley, Allan Jones (also known as yam yam), Eddie Maitas, Kevin Wood and apprentice John Jones who’s now a fully qualified Gas engineer. They have also moved into a new home in Hadley, Conwy.
The Team further boosted its team with 10 new skilled recruits as services expanded to include planned maintenance in November 2013, working to install replacement kitchens and bathrooms. 2014 saw the launch of Rakes and Ladders, an in-house grounds and maintenance team.
Happy Birthday Repairs, here’s to another 5 years and further growth!
North Wales Housing is set to launch an in-house grounds maintenance team, creating six new jobs for local people.
‘Rakes & Ladders’ will be launched in October 2014 and will deliver a range of gardening and grounds maintenance, and other property maintenance services to tenants of the association across North Wales.
Initially, six roles will be created including two team leaders, an apprentice, a trainee, and two seasonal workers all of whom will be based at the association’s Hadley Building office in Conwy.
Rakes and Ladders will aim to recruit people from within the local community, including North Wales Housing tenants. Team leaders will be appointed to work closely with new recruits, and provide mentoring, support and training to ensure that employees who may never have worked, or have been unemployed for a period of time, are given the practical and softer skills to help them to succeed in the workplace.
A period of training, development and support will lead to the possibility of long term employment opportunities, helping transform the lives of local people. The team will often work within the community in which they live, delivering an important service for the association.
NWH are committed to improving the service provision to tenants. By delivering directly from within the association, tenants can expect a more customer focused approach. The success of moving the maintenance teams in house and away from external contractors has encouraged NWH to take this approach.
Stephanie Clueit Assistant Director of North Wales Housing said:
“This is a really positive move for the association. Not only are we creating long term jobs for local people but we are delivering this service directly which we believe has lots of advantages. We have seen a huge improvement in the positive feedback we’ve had from our tenants since taking planned maintenance in house. We want Rakes and Ladders to sit alongside our maintenance teams and sustain that high level of service.”
Stephanie added:
“This is a sustainable business from every aspect and embodies the NWH ethos and vision. We would like to encourage people to get in touch by visiting our website www.nwha.org.uk to find out more about these and other opportunities available at North Wales Housing. Tenants can also get more information at our tenants Fun Day on 20th August at Ysgol Morfa Rhianedd, Ffordd Cwm, Llandudno.”
The in-house maintenance team at North Wales Housing has boosted its team with a further 10 new skilled recruits as services expands to include planned maintenance.
The new team comprising a Tenant Liaison Officer and various trade roles are this week undergoing induction and training and will begin work in tenant’s homes in early November.
The in-house approach has been welcomed by tenants who have offered positive feedback and support to the growing team, encouraging the organisation to develop the maintenance team further. The new team will deliver planned works including the installation of new bathrooms and kitchens.
North Wales Housing launched its in-house maintenance team some three years ago following the demise of construction company Rok, who carried out much of the organisation’s reactive and planned maintenance works. A team of eight former local Rok employees were taken on to launch the team, a figure which has now grown to 26.
Mike Bernard, Assistant Director – Homes at North Wales Housing said:
“Our in –house maintenance operation has been a huge success story for North Wales Housing. The tenants have really embraced the Maintenance team and feedback has been brilliant. This marks the next step in the journey for us and we’re pleased to welcome some incredibly skilled and knowledgeable tradespeople to North Wales Housing.”
Paul Diggory, Chief Executive of North Wales Housing added:
“We’ve grown the team in an organic and sustainable way and we’ve liaised closely with our tenants to ensure we have the right approach and model in place. Much more of our planned services will now be delivered by our own team, meaning local people will be delivering local services within our communities and homes.”
Lynne Williams, Head of Personnel, said that all recruitment opportunities are advertised on the organisation’s website and Job Centre Plus. She added that a number of positions across the organisations will be advertised over the next couple of months.
The maintenance team has recently relocated to new premises in Hadley Building in Conwy.
