Acceleris is Right @home

Published by JenCooke for Acceleris Marketing Communications in Communities and also in Housing

Acceleris Marketing Communications, one of the UK’s leading PR and Communications agencies operating within the social housing sector, has launched the first website featuring its innovative @home portal.

It has been developed for Sheffield Homes, the country’s largest arm’s length management organisation (ALMO) which looks after more than 40,000 council houses in the city.

@home offers a unique, interactive tool for rich communication with and within tenant communities. It was specifically created to address a need for digital inclusion within social housing and is the result of a six month research and development programme.

@home provides a range of communications channels, allowing the management organisation to talk to residents, residents to talk to the management organisation, and residents to talk to residents facilitating greater community cohesion..

Available content delivery modules include notice boards, blog sites and polls for tenant feedback and views. Residents can create their own community areas to upload images and content, share information, air their views, open up discussions, promote local events, vote on change and talk directly to landlords and housing managers.

@home is incorporated in http://www.sheffieldhomes.org/, the brand new website created for Sheffield Homes by Acceleris.

Sheffield Homes Chief Executive Peter Morton says: “We are absolutely delighted with our new website. It has given us a portfolio of new opportunities to engage with our tenants, empowering and involving them in our drive to deliver decent homes and build thriving communities.”

The new site is recording significantly increased levels of visitor numbers.

Acceleris is the retained PR and Communications agency for the National Federation of ALMOs whose 69 members around England manage more than 1 million council houses and deliver a £multi-billion programme under the Government’s ‘Decent Homes’ scheme. The agency also works for a number of individual ALMOs around the country.

@home was officially launched at the 2009 Chartered Institute of Housing Conference in Harrogate.

Acceleris Managing Director Peter Davenport said: “We are very gratified by the tremendously positive response which @home has received so far. It was created to meet a growing need for modern and compelling social media within the sector and as a way of engaging tenants in discussions about the very issues that affect their daily lives and the communities in which they live.”

The agency has now been appointed by Wolverhampton Homes to develop a new website incorporating @home and is also in discussions with a number of other ALMOs around the country.

Acceleris celebrated its third birthday in December and received the silver award for ‘Outstanding Consultancy’ at the Yorkshire & Lincolnshire CIPR awards 2009.

Based in North Yorkshire but operating for clients in the public and private sectors around the country, Acceleris has 20 staff and has recorded revenues of more than £4 million since it launched in 2006. It is one of the fastest growing agencies in the region.