Broadland Housing Association

Homes, community & support since 1963

    • News

    Celebrating National Apprenticeship Week 2020

    Left to right, from top: former apprentices Chloe Slater, Jack Harvey, Catalina Ruane, Lucy Rose and Laura Baldock

    During National Apprenticeship Week, 3-7 February, we are celebrating the achievements of our amazing apprentices.

    A good proportion of our apprentices go on to secure permanent roles at Broadland. James Godfrey, Head of HR Services, explains how apprenticeships also benefit us as an employer:

    Apprenticeships introduce us to some amazing people of all ages, allowing us to develop them into well-skilled and motivated colleagues who bring a new dimension to our workforce.  In fact, we’re one of the top 100 not-for-profit organisations in the Best Companies Survey, which is an independent survey completed by employees.

    Offering quality apprenticeships has allowed us to attract really high-calibre raw talent into a sector where there is a recognised skills shortage, and to develop skills which are directly relevant to our needs as an employer.  It’s a real win:win.

    Broadland’s apprenticeship scheme welcomes trainees in a wide range of disciplines, including office-based roles such as business admin and customer service; trades such as plumbing, gas and electrical; and multi-disciplinary apprenticeships taking in a range of departments including HR, finance, housing, property management and facilities.

    Greener transport deal with Norfolk Car Club

    Our new transport partnership with Norfolk Car Club will save money for tenants and reduce our impact on the environment.

    Norfolk Car Club offers pay-as-you-go use of a fleet of 50 new cars and vans in Norwich (parked in dedicated on-street bays) and 600 vehicles across the UK. Vehicles can be hired for as little as half an hour at a time or as long as needed.

    Norfolk Car Club members have smaller carbon footprints because they travel fewer miles, in more efficient cars. Each new car club car is used by around 20 drivers, which is a much more efficient use of vehicles.

    Broadland’s special deal means that tenants can join the Car Club free (saving a £25 joining fee), remain a member for free (saving £5 per month minimum spend), and receive a £25 free driving credit. National research shows that for members who drive fewer than 6-8,000 miles a year, a car club could save them up to £3,500 a year.

    Andrew Savage, Executive Development Director and a Broadland environmental champion, said:

    This great new deal with Norfolk Car Club will really benefit our tenants. It will save them the hassle and expense of owning and maintaining a car, such as tax, MOT, fuel, servicing, repairs and parking.

    As an organisation, we are strongly committed to reducing our environmental footprint and this new partnership will reduce the amount of congestion on the roads, lower fuel emissions and improve air quality. 

    For more information about the benefits of car clubs, see the latest national survey results.

    Christmas charity raffle raises £800+

    A big thank you to all our generous staff and suppliers for supporting our 2019 Christmas raffle. We were thrilled to raise over £800 for our staff charity of the year, Norfolk Mind.

    We are grateful for raffle prizes from suppliers including:

    ‘Meet the neighbours’ event at Patricia Hollis House

    A big welcome to all our new tenants at Canary Quay, Norwich! We were delighted to bring together so many new neighbours at a welcome event at Patricia Hollis House in December.

    We wish all tenants a very happy first Christmas in their new home.

    Patricia Hollis House is Phase 1 of our ambitious new Canary Quay development. It consists of 60 one- and two-bedroom apartments for social rent. The first tenants moved in during October 2019. Eventually Canary Quay will create 323 new homes – a mix of social and intermediate rent and open market properties.

    Iain Grieve – new Executive Finance Director

    We are delighted to welcome Iain Grieve as our new Executive Finance Director. Iain succeeds Julian Foster, who has retired.

    Iain was previously Director of Financial Services at Catalyst Housing, one of the London’s largest housing associations. During his time in this role, Iain was part of the working party that helped Catalyst regain the regulator’s highest governance rating and significantly enhanced the customer-focus and reporting capability of the finance function. He also created and embedded a high-performing procurement function which delivered compliance with OJEU regulations and tangible value for money savings.  

    Iain trained as an accountant with Grant Thornton in Norwich and joined Circle Housing as an Internal Auditor. He held several other posts at Circle Housing including Head of Internal Audit, Group Financial Controller and Director of Business Support, which was responsible for implementing and running a shared service division comprising of Finance, HR, IT and Facilities Management Teams and indirectly managing over 200 staff. 

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