INTEGRAL HOUSING DIVISION NEWSLETTER

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2012 WHERE DID IT GO??

CIH MANCHESTER where we were

INTEGRAL PEOPLE

BIRCHWOOD The place

SPONSORSHIP Who we support

THE APPENTICE Your Hired!

WELFARE REFORM ACT The Facts

CHRISTMAS PARTY The Pictures

SPRING 2013

IntegrationComplianceCommunityInnovationImprovementCollaborationFlexibilityPartner-shipQualityImprovementFlexibilityCollaborationQualityInnovationComplianceCompliance-

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Chris Davies Business Development Manager

Lee MurfittRegional Sales

Executive - North

Linked in Email

Website

Lee MurfittRegional Sales Executive North

Linked in Email

Twitter You Tube Channel

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SPRING NEWSLETTER

Inform is back!After over a year we are back with a new look and a new format, thanks to the IT skills of one Lee Murfitt. There have been a few ups and downs over the past 12 months since we have been at Birchwood with clients dropping out and new ones coming in how-ever one thing that has remained stable is our workforce, so thanks to everyone for sticking with us and here’s to a bright new future for 2013!

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A Reflection on 2012.Well for one thing, we moved! Contracts were won and lost, and people came and went.

Birchwood – The Facts.Discover unknown facts about our new home.

Integral Exhibit.The CIH Housing Exhibition was in Manchester in 2012, and we were there.

People News.Find out who’s new in 2013.

The Welfare Reform Act 2012.How will this affect us, and what can we do about it?

Integral Sponsorships.We’re on the ball, and at the races!

The Apprentice.Find out who’s hired in the latest edition of this popular feature.

The Christmas Party.Another year, another bash, check out the pictues at last years event.

And Finally...The futures bright, the futures Integral!

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Contents

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The year began with a big change for everyone, the move to Birch-wood.

With the extra travel for almost everyone involved we always knew there would be casual-ties, however not as many as we thought, in fact the only person who opted not to come was Nicky Corke, who after 12 years at Integral decided the travel was too much.

The contract awards also began early in the year with Anchor Housing Trust choosing Integral as their service providers for prop-erties in the North East and Lancashire in January for a possible five years.Whilst everyone settled into the new office and grew used to the integration of Manchester and Liverpool staff work began on our strategy for growth over the next year.

Beginning with an exhibition at the annual Chartered Institute of Housing Exhibition held this year in June at Manchester Central (for-merly the GMex) The Housing Division had a stand at the event in an attempt to raise our profile and develop relationships with potential clients, more on this later..

The second half of the year had its ups and downs with the loss of our fabric contract with Eden Housing in Cumbria and the addition of a new client in North Star Housing based in Stockton on Tees. North Star is the overall name for three separate housing associations, En-deavour Housing, Teesdale Housing and Darlington Housing.

Our foray north of the border also proved fruitful after Aberdeen City Council awarded Integral a place on their service and mainte-nance framework. However due to a lack of realistic TUPE informa-tion this might be an opportunity we have to decline.

Several Integral sponsored charity events were held this year includ-ing the Integral Handicap Stakes held at Carlisle race course, a golf day at Stoney Holme Golf Club in Carlisle in aid of the Mayor of Carl-isle’s Charity and the continued sponsorship of Rugby FC and South Kilburn FC

December brought the first Birchwood Christmas party held at the Village Hotel in Warrington, most staff managed to make the event and the evening (and year) ended with a bang!

Nic

ky C

orke

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2 0 1 2 W h e r e d i d i t g o ?

A Reflection on 2012.

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2012 Where did it go?

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B i r c h w o o d - T h e F a c t s

In the past travellers avoided the Risley (Birchwood) area because it of its dangerous mossland, however gradually over time much of the fertile mossland was reclaimed and turned into farm land.

With the advent of the Second World War, 927 acres (3.8 km²) of agricultural land was changed into a massive Royal Ordnance Factory, ROF Risley. The location was chosen because the low lying mist and cloud helped camouflage the factory from the air; according to a local builder:

Although the location of the factory was known by the German Luft-waffe, the factory was bombed only once during the war.A number of bunkers were also built (some can still be seen today) to house the munitions, to protect them from potential bombing, and also to segregate the site and reduce the consequences of any accidental explosions during manufacture or storage. Although these bunkers are on the surface, they are covered with soil and turf and so give the impression of being underground.

However after the war the factory no longer had a purpose other than as a storage depot and so in 1956 the north west of the factory was sold to United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority with the entire disused area being put on the market in 1963. No buyer was found for it until 1968, when the Warrington and Run-corn Development Corporation bought the site and turned it into the new town of Birchwood.

Famous residents include George Sampson dancer and winner of Britains Got Talent in 2008.

“It was very lonely and misty at night, and that’s why the factory was constructed there ... it was usually covered with a mist or cloud. It was hard to see it

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B i r c h w o o d - T h e F a c t s

Birchwood - The Fact’s

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From the 12th – 14th of June 2012 the Housing Division where exhibiting as part of the Northern Consortium Village at this prestigious annual event.

This was our second year as exhibitors and after last year’s crowd pulling Nintendo Wii competition we thought we would have a change of plan this year and introduce a daily prize draw for a bottle of champagne.

By inticing people to leave a business card with the promise of a free bottle of bubbly we managed to make lots of friends and contact with potential clients and past associates.The three day event attracts the movers and shakers from the social housing market place and included speeches and semi-nars by the likes of Grant Shapps MP – Minister for Housing & Local Government and Jon Snow – Channel 4 News.Other contractors at the event really pushed the boat out and hired lookalike royal family members!

To book your place at the 2013 conference click here

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CIH Housing Exhibition 2012

Chris handing over the winning bottle

Integral Housing Stand

Even the Royal Family made an appearance

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C I H H o u s i n g E x h i b i t i o n 2 0 1 2

Manchester Central

I realise it’s a bit late but as it’s a year since our last Newsletter there is a bit of catching up to do.Joan Blocksidge joined our Housing Division service desk in January 2012 and has since established herself as a vital member of the team.She has lived in Liverpool all of her life and have been happily married for over 30 years.She enjoys socialising with friends and family and is a keen Everton FC supporter with her husband.

Simon Forster joined the accounts team in April 2012, since then he has been responsible for processing timesheets, purchase orders and registering invoices for our operations in London and Liverpool.He has lived in the Oakwood area of Birchwood for the last 17 years so is a local lad and states his passions/hobbies as – gaming, going to the cinema and pubbing and clubbing. When not living it up on the town he likes reading and listening to music.Simon has settled in well and is now a bona fide member of the accounts team.

Sophia joined the service desk in April 2012 and explained how she came upon Integral.This is my first full time job since leaving college, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to study at university so took some time out, I had a part time job in a local bar and was studying part time at college, on a teaching assisting course when Lucy Mulligan (sister) told me about the vacancy here. I decided it would be a good opportunity to gain some experience and try something new so I decided to apply. In my free time I like socialising with friends and family, shop-ping, going to the cinema etc and I try to keep fit by attending the gym most week-nights.

Joan Blocksidge - Help Desk

Simon Forster - Accounts

Sophia Mulligan - Service Desk

People News Who’s new in 2013?

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P e o p l e N e w s

Stay connected to a world of Housing Maintenance at

www.integralhousing.co.uk

Up to date News, Views and Stories

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www.integralhousing.co.uk

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www.housing.org.uk

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W e l f a r e R e f o r m A c t 2 0 1 2

Many people have probably never heard of this act, but as social hous-ing maintenance providers it may have an effect on our service deliv-ery. Some of our clients have already asked how we can help them with the problems that may arise and we are currently formulating re-sponses to this question.

The main areas of concern for landlords is the collection of rent from their tenants once the act comes into place.The Government wants to see many more social housing tenants receive money in their hand rather than opting to have their benefit paid directly to their landlord. This new method of payment is called Universal Credit. The Government argues that this will help ease the transition into work by replicating a monthly salary.

The impact on landlords are:

- Increased levels of debt for tenants already on low incomes- Increased costs for landlords including:- Arrears recovery, slower payment times and bad debt- Legal costs- Need for additional housing management staff- Need to support tenants and establish new payment collection methods- Transaction costs- Impact on the attitude of lenders to the sector

In addition to the problem of collecting rent is the financial burden placed on tenants with an extra bedroom, this has been dubbed the “bedroom tax.” As part of the Welfare Reform Act a financial penalty of approx £12 - £14 per bedroom will also be enforced this year on tenants who are deemed to have a “spare” bedroom.

I’m sure that we can all foresee the problems that will potentially arise once the act is introduced this year, so as part of our collaborative working principle we will be developing toolbox talks for engineers and staff to enlighten them on the problems that tenants may face and contact details for clients help desks set up to deal with problems.

More information

For further information on the Welfare Reform Act visit the National Housing Federation’s website – www.housing.org.uk or read their document on the changes to housing benefit.

Look out for further updates on this subject…

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Welfare Reform Act 2012

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I n t e g r a l S p o n s o r s h i p s

Integral Sponsorships

Football Our commitment to sponsoring local charities and sports continues this year with the sponsorship of two junior football clubs local to the areas we serve.

Rugby Town Junior Football Club is a FA Community Club that provide Football in a safe and secure environment for Girls and Boys aged from 4 to open age. They currently have 33 teams within the club. Our sponsorship includes pitch side boarding at their Butlin Road ground

South Kilburn FC play in the Hellenic League and Step 6 on the non-league football pyramid. Last season, South Kilburn finished a very respectable sixth in the Hellenic Division One East. This will now be used as a springboard to push further on up the league in 2013. Integral provides pitch side boarding at their pitch at Vale Farm Sports Centre in Wembley

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I n t e g r a l S p o n s o r s h i p s

Not content with our football sponsorship in September his year we sponsored The Integral Handicap Stakes at Carlisle Race Course.

The winning horse was Spread Boy whose jockey Miss J Richards was presented with engraved crystal glasses by Regional Operations Manager John Ashworth.

At the Races

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T h e A p p r e n t i c e

Following our last edition of this popular feature we have won contracts in the North East of England.

It therefore only seems right to include our new apprentice from the region, so welcome to Integral David, tell us about yourself...

Name: David Anderson

Area/Contract North Star Housing, covering the North East

Age: 21

Apprenticeship: Plumbing/Heating

Status: NVQ level 2-3 in plumbing

Star sign: Libra

Fave food: Indian: I like hot stuff but Chicken Tikka Masalla is my favourite dish.

Fave film: All the Rocky films, my favourite is Rocky 4.

Fave music/Band: Trey Songs, he’s an American R&B artist

Hobbies/Interests: Playing Golf and snooker, watching Newcastle Utd and socialising at the Gate in Newcastle town centre. Hidden Talents: Unfortunately I have none, that I know of yet.

Ambitions: To have a long career in gas and see Newcastle win the premiership!

Football Team Newcastle United

What I want to be when I grow up: A qualified and successful gas fitter and raise a family of little gas fitters.

David Anderson

21 GAS

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T h e F u t u r e s B r i g h t

The Futures Bright, the future is

Chris Davies Alan Hall

Lee MurfittMark Whittaker

As you probably all know by now, last year saw an increase in our turnover to over £200 million making us one of the most successful, and profitable maintenance providers in the UK.

With contract wins across the board in the North of England, we have been one of the most successful regions within the company, this is something we aim to maintain and now we are one (as in Manchester and Liverpool operations) we have a dynamic force for improvement in the shape of the combined sales teams of:

Chris Davies – Business Development Manager (Housing)Mark Whittaker – Business Development Manager (North)Alan Hall – National Lighting Solutions ManagerLee Murfitt – Sales Executive (North)

With a line up like this the only way is up! Watch this space in 2013…

The BASH of the YEAR2012 brought the first Christmas party to involve both the Man-chester and Liverpool office, now fully integrated in Birchwood.The event was held at the nearby Village Hotel in Warrington and featured as entertainment Shane Ritchie’s son singing the hits of the day to a backing track, followed by a late night disco.

Plenty of drinking, dancing and general frivolity ensued and a good time was had by all, as can be seen by the photos.

Christmas Party 2012

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Integral’sHousing Team

Warrington Christmas Party 2012

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Integral’sHousing Team

Integral Housing 720 Birchwood Boulevard

Birchwood, Cheshire WA3 7QZ

Tel: 01925 84 7700Email: housingservices@integral.co.uk

www.integralhousing.co.uk

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