FHM employee scoops Northern TPAS award

Frank Haslam Milan (FHM) North East employee Gill Sweeney has scooped a top award for her work with tenants in South Tyneside.

Gill was named Tenant / Resident Involvement Officer of the Year at the northern regional final of the Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS) 2010 Awards.

The awards at the Ramada Piccadilly Hotel in Manchester recognise the excellent work tenants and housing professionals have been doing within their communities across the north of England.

In the last year, Gill and her team of eight have worked with South Tyneside Homes – the arms’ length management organisation responsible for managing, maintaining and improving just over 18,000 council homes.

The role of a resident liaison officer (RLO) is to liaise with tenants from when the works starts through to completion and at the same time, ensuring that tenants are kept informed, making sure the works runs smoothly and that any problems are dealt with quickly and efficiently.

FHM recently completed a refurbishment programme of 470 properties on the Woodbine Estate in South Shields. Gill used her experience to engage with tenants by working alongside Shuma Begum, a local tenant living on the estate, by translating information to Bengali at choice days and on home visits.

The feedback from tenants living on the estate was very positive and enabled FHM to complete the programme of works on schedule.

This approach also received the backing of Isobel Riley, the Chief Executive of South Tyneside Homes. She said: “The RLOs are such a vital part of our Decent Homes programme as they are one of the first contact points for tenants. It is fantastic to see that Gill has been recognised for all her hard work and I would like to thank her and the rest of her team for everything they have done.”

FHM also developed further community initiatives while working with South Tyneside Homes including members of FHM staff taking part in an ethnicity and faith day, holding safety talks in local schools to raise awareness with the local children about the dangers of playing near a building site and visiting tenant groups to provide advice and support on how they can reduce their carbon footprint and become more sustainable.

Gill said; “It is an honour to win this award and be recognised within the housing sector by tenants and housing professionals the excellent work that my team undertake within South Tyneside.

“We enjoy working with tenants by keeping them informed ensuring that any problems are dealt with quickly and efficiently. We all work very hard and everybody deserves this recognition.”

Michelle Reid, TPAS Chief Executive and speaker at the Northern region final of the awards, believes that there has probably never been a more pertinent year to celebrate the exceptional work taking place across the industry.

She commented: “The impact that the economic downturn has had on the housing market has in turn left its impression on the social economy, construction industry and supply chain as a whole. Despite this, people from across the social and affordable housing sector have come together and worked harder than ever to deliver some fantastic results. The winners of the Northern region are prime examples of this”.

Other award categories included Tenant of the Year, Best Practice in the Community, Best Practice in Supporting People, Best Practice in Youth Involvement and Landlord RLO of the Year. Nominations were judged by TPAS and Sarah Webb, Chief Executive of the CIH and all regional category winners will now go forward to the grand final which will be held at the Hilton Hotel in Birmingham on 24 July during TPAS’s annual conference.