Repair 1st is the ‘Most Innovative Contractor’

Published by Nicola Mileham for Stockport Homes in Housing and also in Communities, Local Government

Stockport Homes’ Repair 1^st Team has won the ‘Most Innovative Housing Contractor’ award at the UK’s Housing Innovation Awards 2013. 

The awards celebrate pioneering spirit and highlight examples of inventive and original schemes and services. 

Repair 1^st provides excellent repair services to the Council’s tenants and to a range of other customers, such as schools and private landlords. 

Highlights of the innovative work the Repair 1^st Team has done includes:

• helping to install over 2,000 solar panels to Stockport Homes’ properties;
• developing a not-for-profit repairs service to schools;
• collecting feedback on every job done and learning from customer comments, which has resulted in very high customer satisfaction;
• introducing a vendor rating system to ensure high standards are met by sub-contractors and suppliers;
• implementing a range of training for staff including ‘tool box talks’ for group training and discussion; and
• working with Stockport Primary Care Trust to install child safety gates and fireguards to protect children from injuries. 

Mark Hudson, Director of Technical and Commercial Services, Stockport Homes said, “I am so proud that the hard work of the Repair 1^st Team has resulted in winning yet another prestigious UK award. We aim to keep developing and improving the service that Repair 1^st provides to our customers, so we will keep looking for new innovative ways to do this.” 

Photo caption: Stockport Homes’ Repair 1^st Team collecting the award.