The nine winners in this year’s Housing Corporation Gold Awards showcased their work in three well-attended sessions in the Innovation Theatre at the Chartered Institute of Housing’s 2008 conference in Harrogate. The winning associations, large and small, shared a host of good ideas with other housing practitioners from housing associations and local government.

DELIVERING JOINED-UP DEVELOPMENT

 

Northmoor transformation ‘story without end’

The transformation of Northmoor in Manchester from an area abandoned by many of its residents to a neighbourhood where people choose to live is ‘story without end,’ said Stephen Porter, Chief Executive of the Great Places Group (GPG).
The revival of the area was the result of ‘hard work and robust neighbourhood management by a fantastic partnership,’ he said. At the centre of this partnership was Manchester Methodist Housing Association. A member of GPG, the association had maintained its ‘moral commitment and stuck in there with the community’ at a time when 25 per cent of the homes in the area were boarded up and the average house value fell to about £3,000.
The association worked closely with the highly diverse local community and a transformation team that included Manchester City Council, the local police, the fire service, the ambulance service and the Groundwork Trust.
It had demolished groups of terraced houses to create ‘green streets’ that run through the terraces. It had built four-bedroom houses that ‘are now being snapped up under the right to acquire,’ carried out an extensive green alley-gating project and created Britain’s first home zone.
A listed building, formerly owned by the Co-op, was bought at auction for £150,000 and now houses the Northmoor community centre, local shops, a self-supporting launderette and 17 flats. ‘It is a joy to see a busy shopping area in the middle of Northmoor,’ said Mr Porter. ‘If it costs a few hundred grand to turn a community round we should do it’

 

Newlon and Arsenal create ‘exceptional relationship’

Newlon Housing Trust has established an ‘exceptional relationship’ with Arsenal FC, the London Borough of Islington and many other organisations to deliver the huge brown field regeneration project that centres on the football club’s new Emirates Stadium, said Chris Hill, the trust’s Development Director.
Newlon began work with the Arsenal in 2002, the first handovers were made in 2006/2007 and work would be completed by 2014. So far, 1,100 of the planned 3,000 homes were completed and occupied, he said. The homes were a mixture of flats for outright sale, shared ownership and rent. Newlon made special efforts to house teachers, harmonising flat completions with the beginning of school terms and housing 100 teachers at a time.
The partnership had also delivered four community centres, new open spaces, commercial and retail space and a waste recycling centre. More than 1,000 jobs had been created and construction work training provided for local people.
Europe’s largest solar array would supply heating and hot water for the 700 private sector homes and 55 new housing association homes provided through the redevelopment of the old Highbury Stadium. The most curious feature of the scheme was a memorial garden at Highbury that would accommodate supporters’ ashes that had been buried in the goalmouths of the stadium.

 

Cleadon Park: Nomad E5 takes its time to get it right

Don’t under-estimate the time it takes to turn an estate round, warned Michael Farr, Development Director of Nomad E5 Housing Association, a member of the ISOS Group.
‘We thought it would take 5 years to transform the Cleadon Park estate, we now think it will take 10, but with the current economic climate we might have to revisit that target.’
The Cleadon Park Community Partnership (CPCP)was carrying out the £90 million regeneration scheme of a garden estate. ‘A model of social housing,’ the estate was built in the 1920s to provide homes fit for heroes but had slipped into housing’s twilight zone during the past 20 years.
Set up by the association, South Tyneside Council, Ridgeway School and Family Support Centre and Bellway Homes, the partnership met regularly to plan, develop and manage the scheme and worked closely with the residents’ association. Other partners included local schools, the police and fire service.
The regeneration programme will see 580 older homes demolished and 750 new homes built in tenure-blind clusters and includes a primary care centre, a library, a customer service centre and a community centre.
‘It is harder than we envisaged,’ said Mr Farr, ‘but it is working. The estate, which used to have a bad reputation, is one of the few areas in the North East where new homes are still selling. What’s more we have managed to keep a fiercely proud community together.’

 

BUILDING COHESIVE COMMUNITIES

Ashram lifts its game to Bend it like Birmingham

‘Bend it like Birmingham is a resident-led project building community cohesion and fostering social inclusion in the Second City with the support of Ashram Housing Association’, said Caroline Wolhuter, Research Manager. More than 300 people play football in the 20 sessions organised each week by 70 volunteers who are supported by neighbourhood resident steering groups. ‘With women-only sessions every week, football is no longer lads and dads only,’ she added.
The project engages young Muslims in the wider community through football and helps break down the barriers between white and black and minority ethnic communities. It also offers a pathway into employment to the volunteers in the shape of training for Football Association training licences.
On a wider scale, Ashram leads the East Birmingham Sports Inclusion Project on behalf of Sport England, the Football Foundation, five housing associations, Birmingham City Council and sports governing bodies. It is the first time Sport England has worked with housing partners in the West Midlands Region.

 

Old Ford’s inclusive approach helps break down barriers

Old Ford Housing Association’s policy of creating community centres that meet the needs of all communities has paid dividends for social cohesion, Jane Morton, the Association’s Managing Director, told the conference.
Old Ford, which works in the Bow neighbourhood of Tower Hamlets in East London, resisted pressure from different ethnic communities to provide for their needs separately, persisting instead with its inter-cultural approach of creating generic community centres that met the needs of different communities. All the centres were run by inter-cultural and inter-faith management committees made up entirely of users. Inter-faith festivals are organised throughout the year.
‘The key to the success of our work is a series of partnerships with residents at the core and a shared common vision,’ said Ms Morton.

 

The Papworth Trust opens doors for people with disabilities

The Papworth Trust’s Foundation for Living project provides 24 wheel-chair accessible self-contained flats for people with disabilities and able-bodied people side by side on three sites in the centre of Huntingdon.  One of the sites is shared with 21 flats for able bodied people.
The disabled residents moved from a rural care home and now enjoyed a greater measure of independence with leisure facilities and shops close at hand. Moving to their new homes had transformed the residents’ lives, said the Trust’s Chief Executive Adrian Bagg.
One of the sites also accommodated the Saxondale Community Learning Centre, with its two IT suites, art room, wheel chair-accessible kitchen, offices, hot-desking area and a cafe. About 9,500 disabled  people a year use the centre, which offered courses ranging from cooking to numeracy and literacy and leisure activities.
The Trust had an annual turnover of £16 million, 12,000 clients and 300 staff. Of its 600 homes, 400 were wheelchair accessible and integrated into the community, said Mr Bagg. ‘We are transforming the lives of people with disabilities However, a great deal remains to be done. More than 371,000 people nationwide with disabilities are still in need of accessible homes.’

 

TACKLING WORKLESSNESS

 

‘Credibility comes through long-term commitment’

Tackling worklessness has to be a long-term commitment, warned Ehjaz Ghul of the Accent Group, which won gold for its work in training people from local BME communities to work in construction projects in Bradford, In the past two years 1,000 trainees have gone through the YouthBuild project alone with 83 per cent achieving qualifications.
‘Short-term programmes don’t work,’ he said.  ‘You have to demonstrate long-term commitment and you only get credibility from the community after four or five years of commitment.’
It was also important to employ people from the local communities in the worklessness team. ‘A large percentage of my team is drawn from the neighbourhoods where we work. They understand the local people and the local issues, and by giving them skills we enable them to put something back into their communities and act as role models,’ 
The team engaged with local people, giving them opportunities to develop skills to get into work. It provided them with communication and negotiation skills. It helped people make informed career choices with work taster and placement opportunities lasting anything from two weeks to nine months and it signposted those it couldn’t help.
It provided mentors to ensure people stayed in jobs and became valued members of the organisations where they worked, and it worked with trainees and their families and employers.
Accent also provided business start-up funding and business advisers. As a result local people started businesses and employed other local people. ‘That way you keep the money in the community,’ he said.

 

Help with the long walk back to work

We take people on a journey from the moment they walk through our doors for the first time until they move on into sustainable employment, said Julia Wedgewood, Routes 2 Work Manager with Derwent & Solway Housing Association.
The scheme, which has helped 1,280 people into employment since it opened its doors in 2005, provided a bespoke training and support package for each of its clients, she said. ‘We believe everybody is an individual, and we don’t believe one size fits all.’
The organisation worked effectively with other agencies to achieve its goals, and had established close ties with many local employers who used it as an employment agency. 
The wage subsidies that Routes 2 Work pays to small businesses made it possible for them to invest time in training and supporting the employees. One-off transitional ‘back to work grants’ were paid to trainees to help them meet travel costs and buy tools and working clothes.
Help given ranged form sorting out housing and other benefits and childcare arrangements to taking people to work on their first day after a long period of unemployment. ‘We have a dedicated staff team who really care about our client group, understand the issues they face and really believe that everybody can meet their goals. We really do change lives.’

 

Business case for tackling worklessness

The business case for tackling worklessness seems common sense to us, said Stephen Mallor Neighbourhoods Director, Places for People.
‘It creates jobs and businesses in areas where we work, creates wealth and wealth retention and produces role models for others to emulate.’
Places for People was committed to producing mixed income and mixed tenure neighbourhoods.  To do that, it was necessary to get people into work. ‘It is about the sustainability of neighbourhoods and sustainable communities. We have a stake in the long-term future of areas, and housing is only one part of the equation. We have been doing it for eight years and linking into our core activities. It is a mainstream activity and part of a much bigger picture.’
The group supported 25 initiatives aimed at getting people into work. It worked with other housing associations, sometimes leading partnerships and sometimes with others leading.
Nearly 6,000 people had accessed the Places for People’s worklessness services. Of these 1,277 had found jobs, more than 2,000 had taken up training schemes and 1,399 had attended self-employment awareness raising sessions. In addition 245 new businesses had been set up and support given to 836 established businesses.
‘These are big numbers, but the work is about the individual and the effects on families and neighbourhoods.’