Three Greater Manchester Districts in One Day!

Earlier last week, I nipped over to our GM North region to visit a wide-range of schemes across our neighbourhoods in Bolton, Bury and Oldham. 

Over the last six months, it’s been difficult to get ‘out and about’ doing what I enjoy most, meeting our colleagues and customers. Now we are gradually getting back to a form of normality, I’ve made this a priority.

It’s been great to escape my screen and back-to-back video calls to see and experience first-hand the great work our colleagues are involved with across our regions and communities. 

I’m also keen to understand the challenges our customers and colleagues are facing with no ‘sugar coating.’ As a business, we need to be able to understand so we can continually change, adapt and improve.

I spent the first part of the morning in Bolton with Neighbourhood Services Manager, Mica Vanden. 

We met at Westpoint View (a scheme of 40 flats) where sadly, one of the flats was recently badly damaged by fire.

The safety of our customers is always our top priority - thankfully, no one was hurt. The nature of the construction and the speedy response of the emergency services helped ensure the fire was contained and didn’t spread. 

Although customers were temporarily decanted, they were all back in their own homes within 48 hours. After talking to Mica about the incident, I was impressed to hear the way in which she worked with the Fire Service to help them understand the building, providing crucial information in the aftermath.

Next up, we headed over to St Paul’s Court, at face value a beautiful grade-two listed building comprising of 13 flats. Mica explained some the issues facing the scheme and the level of re-investment needed (which the business is currently considering), to carry out the complex improvement works to future proof the building and try to make sure that the flats are affordable to heat.

My next port of call was Castlecroft House in Bury where I met Housing & Wellbeing Manager, Sarah Phethean. 

The scheme provides support for young people (aged 16 plus) who have a range of specialist needs and has only recently been brought into our portfolio (although we own the building). 

Unsurprisingly, there is a high demand for this service, with over 60 referrals since we were awarded the contract back in April. I’m always inspired and humbled by the work that goes on across our Independence and Wellbeing schemes and the great work they do to support some of our most vulnerable citizens.

After a quick lunch and a National Housing Federation video conference at our Oldham office, I ventured over to our meet our Oldham PFI team – Ryan Smith, PFI Manager and Neighbourhood Coordinator, Sheila Bishop.

The first stop of the afternoon was Primrose Bank, a large mixed tenure site that forms one of the major gateways to Oldham town centre.

Nine years on from when we started developing and delivering neighbourhoods services across our Oldham PFI area, it’s always great to come back and see the ongoing improvements across the community. 

Some of the public spaces are amongst the best that we’ve ever done and they really have stood the test of time.

There’s also a fantastic diverse and cohesive community spirit here and it’s become a neighbourhood of choice. I was also pleased to hear that new homes developed nearby for outright sale are proving popular, more proof that the area has improved significantly. All good stuff!

For our final stop, we headed over to Dew Way – a small development of 36 homes, tucked away in the heart of a terraced neighbourhood. 

I really enjoyed seeing the some of the fabulous gardens in the area and took the opportunity to meet the winner of our annual ‘Garden of the Year’ competition. The perfect end to a brilliant day!