News

Broadland Housing has been shortlisted for the ASCP ‘Electrical Contractor of the Year’ category in one of the sector’s most sought-after awards.

The ASCP Safety & Compliance Awards reward outstanding individuals and organisations who go the extra mile to ensure safe and compliant working practices to safeguard tenants, staff and property, finding new or innovative ways to improve living environments and communities. 

The Broadland electrical team, led by Gerry Claxton, was shortlisted for its achievements in 2018, which include designing and rewiring 2 large sheltered housing schemes and installing a new fire alarm system. The team has also been installing smart heating controls into tenants’ homes with a low-energy rating. All the work was done by Broadland’s in-house team, where previously the work would have gone out to subcontractors. Broadland has invested heavily in training for the workforce, and the electrical team recently gained membership of the ECA. This is in addition to its ongoing NICEIC Approved Contractor registration. The team has also recently achieved BAFE SP203-4 emergency lighting accreditation and has applied for BAFE accreditation for fire alarms.

Claire Heyes, Chief Executive of the Association of Safety and Compliance Professionals (ASCP) said:

“The ASCP Safety & Compliance awards recognise the achievements of inspirational individuals and organisations within the social housing and facilities management sectors. A record number of high-quality entries were received this year for the ASCP Safety & Compliance awards, so a well-deserved congratulations goes to all those shortlisted, it is a great achievement!”

The Awards show is one of the highlights of the ASCP Safety & Compliance Conference & Exhibition, taking place on Wednesday 24th and Thursday 25th April 2019.

With Broadland Housing’s 6 new bungalows at Trunch now completed, tenants enjoyed a tea and cake at the official opening ceremony today marking the completion of phases 1 and 2.

The six 1- and 2-bedroom bungalows on Fullers Lane (4 affordable rent and 2 shared ownership) complete the second phase of Broadland Housing’s Trunch development. Phase 1, on Cornish Avenue, was finished in March 2018 and includes 8 affordable rent and 4 shared ownership houses/bungalows.

The new tenants and neighbours from Cornish Avenue joined Broadland Housing directors and staff, architects, builders, land surveyors and parish councillors for the celebrations.

New Broadland Housing tenant Gillian moved from Paston but she was brought up in Trunch. Her family have lived in the village for more than 40 years, and she works locally as a carer. She is thrilled that her new bungalow backs onto her mother’s house. Broadland has installed a garden gate so that Gillian can visit her mother (who is 80 and lives alone) every day. She is also delighted that for the first time, her severely disabled grandson, who uses a wheelchair, can now visit her at home, thanks to the new bungalow’s level entry and wide doors. Gillian said:

It has taken a weight off my shoulders to have Mum so close and I can keep a really close eye on her. I feel less stressed about work because I’m in the village and can get to the people I care for quickly. I have got to know all the neighbours really well already.

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Chris Ewbank, chair of Broadland’s board, said:

We’re delighted to provide these much-needed, high-quality new homes. Completing this scheme helps us deliver our ambitious development programme in Norfolk which will see the association building 600 new affordable homes by the end of 2021.

It’s great to have so many of our tenants and their neighbours here today, celebrating with us. Building good relationships with our tenants and getting their input is critical for shaping our services and building strong communities as we go forward.

Rob Young, North Norfolk District Council’s Head of Economic and Community Development, said:

This is an excellent example of partnership working between Broadland Housing, the parish council and North Norfolk District Council. It is a sensitively designed development of the highest quality housing, not only helping to meet local housing need but to help sustain a strong community in Trunch.

The council hopes that other communities will be inspired by this fine example and come forward with suggestions for similar developments elsewhere.

Chris Pyett, Senior Contracts Manger at John Young Homes, said:

We are proud to have worked again in partnership with Broadland Housing at Trunch, to deliver quality housing to the local community that is affordable, modern and comfortable, matching the association’s and council’s future vision for mixed tenure housing schemes.

Broadland has been ranked 18th in the top 25 Best Housing Associations by 24housing. The monthly housing sector magazine and website has a collective audience of approximately 100,000 people.

This latest recognition reflects Broadland’s focus on increasing employee engagement. This year the housing association has also moved up 17 places to number 61 in the Sunday Times Best Non-Profit Organisations to Work For.

Michael Newey, Chief Executive, said:

We’re really pleased to see independent evidence of our growing levels of staff engagement. We strongly believe that there’s a direct link between engagement and our effectiveness as a landlord. We’re also seeing that that our focus on engagement is paying off in terms of our ability to recruit and retain highly skilled and motivated colleagues.

Broadland engages employees throughout the year through regular ‘Challenge and Change’ programmes, to promote staff development. Broadland also offers options for flexible or agile working, and provides birthday leave and a paid day off for charity work among its employee benefits.

Broadland is Investor in People-accredited, a Mindful Employer, Living Wage employer, Disability Confident, Stonewall supporter and RICS Inclusive certified.

Tenants and staff joined together at Great Yarmouth for Broadland’s first ever beach clean.

At first, the beach seemed clean and clear but soon enough 5 bags of rubbish were collected, much of it plastic, along with cans, fishing line and netting. One tenant mentioned how it really makes you think what else we could all be doing to reduce our single-use plastic waste.

After the clean, we headed to St George’s Theatre cafe nearby, where pebble painting and an environmental quiz with prizes were on offer. Everyone enjoyed meeting one another and hoped another beach clean event would be held again soon.

We’d like to say a big thank you to all the volunteers who helped on the day to keep one of our favourite beaches litter-free.

Want to be involved? 

We’d love to double the numbers of volunteers for our next beach clean. Call 01603 750113 or email tenantengagement@broadlandgroup.org to register your interest!

Broadland will soon be providing 30 new homes in the beautiful village of Roughton, Norfolk.  As part of the preparations for building on site, archaeological works have been taking place.

In February 2019, the lucky children from classes 6 and 7 of St Mary’s Primary School had a visit from Clem at Oxford Archaeology. Clem took them through the archaeological process and showed them a piece of Roman pottery found at the site in their village.  The children even got to have a go at archaeological ‘digging’ themselves!