Knowledge and experience shared by North East firm

Published by Craig Downs for Frank Haslam Milan in Housing and also in Communities

Staff from a South Gloucestershire Housing Association have visited the North East to pick up tips from a local community regeneration company.

Christine Cooney and Nas Manjothi, from the Merlin Housing Society, spent two days shadowing staff at South Tyneside-based Frank Haslam Milan (FHM) North East.

During the two-day visit, the pair spent time at FHM’s head office in Hebburn and at one of the firm’s new housing developments, in Kibblesworth, Gateshead.

The trip was set up by Winston Williams, former Group Director of Property Services at the Vela Group, which incorporates Tristar Homes in Stockton, who is now Managing Director of Merlin Housing Society’s contracting arm.

Having worked with FHM in the past, Mr Williams was impressed with the firm’s working practices, and with both Nas and Christine’s roles only created recently, he felt they would benefit from spending time shadowing FHM staff.

FHM Lead Resident Liaison Officer Gill Sweeney helped coordinate the visit, which covered areas such as communication, safeguarding tenants, working on-site and community projects.

She said: “We are always happy to share our knowledge and experience with other people working in the same field.

“We enjoyed having Chris and Nas with us and hope they find what they picked up over the two days useful in their work back in South Gloucestershire.”

Andrea Scollen, Community Liaison Manager at FHM, said: “Over the last 10 years, we’ve worked hard to build a resident liaison service which ensures all customers are given the help, information and support they need.

“We are proud of what we have achieved and were very happy to share our experience with staff from Merlin Housing Society.”

Resident liaison officers work with housing association tenants in areas undergoing refurbishments, such as re-roofing or upgrading kitchens and bathrooms.

They ensure everyone living in the area is kept informed about what is happening and are able to have their say on developments.

Christine Cooney said: “We found the time we spent with the staff from FHM extremely useful and will be incorporating the information we were given into our own systems and team.

“We are very grateful to everyone who took part in the visit and are looking forward to putting what we learnt into practice.”