Two Rivers Housing has officially bought its repairs team back in house and closed its facilities management company Centigen Facilities Management (Centigen FM).
The Gloucestershire-based housing association announced plans to bring repairs back in house in February this year. Since then, it has been working with its repairs team to complete the TUPE transfer of the entire Centigen team and bring them into Two Rivers Housing.
As part of the consultation process, the housing association reviewed the terms and conditions of the team and made several enhancements to bring these in line with the rest of the Two Rivers Housing Group.
In her first year as Chief Executive, Hayley Selway has been listening to and talking with tenants about their experiences of repairs and other estate based services. Alongside the senior team, Hayley has also worked closely with Centigen colleagues to understand what is working well and what needs to change.
Following this feedback, the executive team made a recommendation to the Board to close down Centigen FM and bring the services it provides back in house.
The move will make it easier to make the improvements to services that tenants want to see and strengthen collaboration between the teams involved in delivering them. It will also simplify the group’s governance structure and reduce company administration costs.
The team was officially welcomed to Two Rivers Housing by tenants involved in the project, the Chair, the executive team and colleagues at a launch event at its Rivers Meet Office on Wednesday 2 April.
As part of the celebration, Two Rivers Housing also unveiled its new branding, which will feature on the vans driven by the repairs team. The new brand was developed with tenants and colleagues and represents a promise to continue to listen to tenants and remain at the heart of the communities it serves.
Speaking at the welcome event, Chief Executive of Two Rivers Housing, Hayley Selway, said:
“I would like to thank tenants, colleagues and Board Members who have worked closely to bring repairs inhouse.
“Ensuring our tenants have homes that they love living in is fundamental to our success. We will strive every day to ensure tenants living in a Two Rivers property feel that they are ‘Home Now’ and that our colleagues feel the same.
Our new brand, co-created with tenants and colleagues reflects what tenants told us is most important to them. It represents our promise to continue to listen and work with them to continue to improve our services and invest in our homes.”
The changes will lead to long-term improvements in services that Two Rivers Housing provides to tenants living in the 4,600 homes it manages in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire.