Spotlight on flintshire summer 2014

FLINTSHIREISSUE 6 | SUMMER 2014

SPOTLIGHT ON

2 | Spotlight on FLINTSHIRE | Summer 2014 | www.wwha.co.uk

Anne’s IntroductionWelcome to the Summer 2014 edition of Spotlight on Flintshire. This edition features news about our work in Flintshire, as well as across the whole of Wales.

The last 12 months have been extremely busy at WWH. We are delivering our largest new build programme for several decades and have just passed the first anniversary of many of the UK Government’s welfare reforms. The economy is turning the corner and 2014 is shaping up to be a much more positive year than those of recent.

We have helped our residents cope with the changes to benefits and avoided our worst fears of many people falling into debt. We have bolstered the number of frontline staff to be able to offer more support to residents at this time and our latest resident satisfaction survey shows that this is well received.

Our service offer continues to grow from debt and money advice, help

with energy bills to hot lunches provided by Castell Catering. We are listening to our residents so that they shape what we do and how we do it.

Our business has changed in recent years so we are now a Group of companies with three subsidiaries focusing on maintenance, development and social enterprise and employment.

We have changed to make ourselves more efficient and use the money we have saved to build even more affordable homes. We have increased the scale and range of our new build programme in response to the growing need for good quality, well designed and affordable homes to buy and rent.


testament to our hard working and dedicated staff .

To conclude, I hope that this briefi ng will help to keep you up to date our work in your area and beyond. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch at any ti me with your ideas and comments about any aspect of our work.

Anne Hinchey, Chief Executi veWales & West Housing Group

Finally, I am very pleased to report that according to Sunday Times Best Companies we not only retained our status as the top ranked not-for-profi t organisati on in Wales, but in fact moved up two places to be at No 5 in the whole of the UK.

With more than 800 not-for-profi t organisati ons entering the Sunday Times Best Companies accreditati on process we are very proud indeed of our conti nued success, which is a

Wales & West HousingGroup Structure


Across Wales 213 homes were provided for social rent and three for sale as ‘low cost home-ownership’ options. Nikki Cole is WWH’s Head of Development and said with housing needs at critical levels, we are being asked for housing from a broader range of people than ever before. Even with the housing marketing picking up, many people are still unable to buy or afford to rent. Our development strategy will see WWH build homes for social rent, affordable rent, sale and low cost home ownership.

We are actively looking for development sites and our Board has approved a five year £150m build

Our £150m build programme continues apace

programme to provide more than 1,000 homes.

2014 is shaping up to be an even bigger year. WWH is on site or about to start in 9 locations and hope to complete over 550 homes, many through the Welsh government’s innovative HF Grant initiative. We have built credible expertise as developing organization at as specialist housing for vulnerable people, social housing as well as extra care.

For more info please go to: www.wwha.co.uk

WWH expanded its development programme several years ago and 2013 saw a further increase in the number of homes completed.

Computer-generated image of the new development at New Road, Porthcawl, Bridgend


Breakdown of WWH completions per local authority area in 2013 is as follows:

Coed y Castell, Bridgend

23 social rented scheme

Brython Drive, Cardiff & Ty Gwyn, Cardiff

9 intermediate rented and 3 Low Cost Home Ownership & 4 intermediate rented

West Shore, Conwy

12 social rented

Denbighshire 0

Llys Jasmine, Flintshire

63 extra care

Vulcan House, Merthyr Tydfil

15 social rented

Cwmfalldau, Powys

9 social rented

Rivulet Road & Kingsmills Road, Wrexham

78 social rented and Hightown Community Resource Centre

Vale of Glamorgan

0

Number of homes under development as at December 31st 2013:

• Maesgwyn & New Road, Bridgend – 28 social rented & 40 social rented

• Elm Street, Cardiff – 10 retirement housing

• Flint House & Glan y Don, Flintshire – 33 retirement housing & 58 social rented

• Quakers Yard, Merthyr Tydfil – 17 social rented

• Kingsmills Road & Rivulet Road, Wrexham – 50 social rented & 20 social rented

• Townmills Road, Vale of Glamorgan – 5 intermediate rented

WWH Development staff outside Llys Jasmine Extra Care/Dementia Care Scheme , Flintshire


The ‘bedroom tax’ and welfare reformApril 2014 saw the first anniversary of the introduction of the ‘bedroom tax’ and ongoing implementation of several other welfare reforms. The changes have had a major impact on many of our residents and our strategy to help people cope with the changes has been very effective.

More than 800 of WWH’s residents saw their housing benefit reduced in April 2013 and 12 families had their benefits capped by the end of September 2013. Despite lots of letters and articles in our residents’ magazine, In Touch, and on our website, people were not prepared for the changes. We took the step of visiting everyone who we thought might be affected, over 1,000 residents. Having face to face meetings with everyone has been crucial to our success in helping people to cope.

Shayne Hembrow, Deputy Chief Executive, explains: “We have tried to strike a balance between supporting residents and making sure that rent was paid. It has proved important to know the ‘won’t payers’ from the ‘can’t payers’. We will do all we can to help those that engage and make the effort.

WWH has done the following:

• Invested over £180,000 per year in Tenancy Support Officers. Seven new posts were created and recruited to directly help residents.

• WWH has helped people increase their income by £780 per year through accessing benefits and grants, renegotiating debt and improving financial management.

• Over 100 people have moved to a more suitable home, where one was available

• 85% of people are now paying their rent in full, up from 50% in May 2013.


Most people have chosen to stay in their homes. Some because this is the community they have always been a part of, and they don’t want to move children to different schools, or they are close to where they work. For others, they are unable to move because there are no smaller homes to move to.

For some of our residents, the chances are even more difficult. Disabled residents living in homes that have been sustainably adapted for their needs cannot easily move and have no guarantee of getting adaptations on a future property.

We also published a research paper on this problem and lobbied the Government to change the rules and exempt disabled residents in adapted homes.

Our findings were shocking with a potential cost of £40m to the public purse in Wales and we and our partners at Community Housing Cymru have been actively lobbying MPs, AMs and other stakeholders to campaign for the UK Government to change this policy.

For more information please go to: http://www.wwha.co.uk/About-Us/News/Pages/Public-money-set-to-be-wasted.aspx

Such has been the impact of the data in our report that it has been used extensively by those campaigning against and reporting on the impact of welfare reform in Wales including the Parliamentary Welsh Affairs Select Committee, and plenary sessions in the Senedd.

Resident Judith Parker lives with daughter Emma, 21, and son Luke, 17 in a WWH purpose-built bungalow in Caerau, Cardiff


In February the company has been rated the top not-for-profit firm in Wales for the third year running by the Sunday Times Best Companies process, which placed Wales & West Housing 5th in the UK overall. Under the same process WWH also retained the coveted gold standard three stars Best Companies accreditation.

Last autumn WWH was also named in 24 Housing’s inaugural Top 50 Affordable Landlords in the UK list, ranking at 42nd.

Vulcan Court, the redevelopment of historic Vulcan Brewery in Merthyr Tydfil, has just won Small Development of the Year in the prestigious UK Housing Awards 2014, and was also named as

one of Inside Housing’s inaugural Top 50 Affordable Housing Developments.

Llys Jasmine, WWH’s pioneering extra care and dementia care development in Mold, North Wales, was also shortlisted in the Large Development of the Year category of the UK Housing Awards.

Finally, we took first place in the Innovation in Renewables category in the UK Energy and Environment Awards 2014.

We’re the top not-for profit firm in Wales - again!It has been a particularly successful six months for WWH in terms of awards and accreditations.


Growth of Connect24

Since 2004 we have been delivering these services for other housing associati ons across Wales, and in the past year have crossed the border into England.

Since 2012 working under the Group sub-brand of Connect24 we are very pleased to be able to report dramati c growth in this part of our business in the last six months with us winning no less than eight new contracts with seven diff erent organisati ons.

Our Connect24 service now monitors emergency alarm acti vati ons for 7,700 households across Wales and answer out of hours telephone calls for 50,000 households. Although this increase

For the past 15 years we have been responding to Emergency Alarm acti vati ons for our own residents and providing a 24 hour / 7days a week telephone service dealing with the full range of housing management issues.

in our business is pleasing we are mindful of the need to deliver the same quality service and conti nue our good responsive working relati onship with all our clients.

Recently we have purchased a lone working monitoring system so will soon be able to off er this new service to both established and new clients again under WWH’s Connect24 sub-brand.


Below is a summary of Connect24’s contracts:

Organisation Service delivered by WWH Connect24

Abbeyfield Housing Society Wales Emergency alarm/ TelecareBron Afon Community Housing Out of hours telephoneCharter Housing Association Out of hours telephoneDerwen Housing Association Out of hours telephoneElim Housing Association Out of hours telephoneGrwp Gwalia Out of hours telephoneHafal Out of hours telephoneHafan Cymru Out of hours telephoneMid Wales Housing Association Emergency alarm/ TelecareNewport City Homes Emergency alarm/ Telecare and Out of

hours telephoneNewydd Housing Association Emergency alarm/ TelecarePennaf Housing Group Emergency alarm/ TelecareTai Calon Emergency alarm/ Telecare and Out of

hours telephoneTemp2Perm Out of hours telephoneValleys 2 Coast Housing Emergency alarm/ TelecareWates Out of hours telephonePrivate individuals Emergency Alarm/ Telecare

If you want to learn more about the services we provide please contact:

Cate Dooher, Head of Support Services on 02920 415386 or [email protected]

Christine Bowns, CSC manager on 02920 415341 or [email protected]


Castell Ventures- a new social enterpriseCastell Ventures is a new company, part of the Wales & West Housing Group dedicated to creati ng more social investment and enterprise in communiti es across Wales. Anne Hinchey, WWH Group Chief Executi ve and Chair of Castell Ventures, explains why it was created.

“Communiti es need strong and responsible, ethical companies that are willing to put customers and service fi rst, and care about the communiti es in which they operate. They need companies that buy locally, work locally and employ locally so that investments and profi ts stay within the community.”

Anne goes on to say: “Castell Ventures will have many dimensions and provide a range of services and products that our residents and communiti es tell us they need. It will create employment and training opportuniti es, and support residents to realise their full potenti al.”

The fi rst division is Castell Catering. It was established in October last year to provide hot meals for older people in our extra care schemes and the wider community. Our work with Age Connect North East Wales and our new extra care schemes highlighted the need for hot meals services and Flintshire County Council were also keen to explore

the creati on of a social enterprise to create more employment and training opportuniti es.

Castell Catering has given jobs to 15 people and is now serving more than 1,000 delicious hot meals a week. Wherever possible ingredients are sourced locally and feedback from customers have been fabulous.

For more informati on on Castell Catering, please contact 0800 052 2526. You can also visit www.wwha.co.uk


Annual Report 2013- strong, sustainable and here for the long term

Our Annual Report and Financial Statements 2013 has now been published showing that 2013 was a great year for the group.

With a turnover of £40m the Group made a surplus of £8.5m which was re-invested to support a spend of £27m on improvements such as kitchens, bathrooms and 213 new homes.

As a not for profit social business, no share dividends were paid or bonuses awarded, instead all money went to services for residents and to support communities. Delivering value for money for residents and partners is at the heart of the way we run our business.

Tony Wilson, Finance Director, explains: “Our strategy to bring more services in-house, control costs better and remove waste has been very successful. We have radically redesigned services to focus more on achieving value for residents and this has made us more efficient and able to reinvest more resources for the benefit of our communities.”

To see a copy of the report go to:http://www.wwha.co.uk/About-Us/Corporate-Information/Pages/Corporate-reports.aspx


Cambria Maintenance ServicesCambria maintenance Services continues to go from strength to strength and has now almost tripled in size since we set it up in 2010.

At the start of 2013 we extended our services to North Wales which means that Cambria now provides reactive maintenance services to all of our properties across the whole of Wales.

We are extremely proud of this achievement, and of the fact that Cambria employs more than 100 staff and is also training several apprentices.

Our vision is for Cambria to continue to grow and increase its workload. Undoubtedly Cambria has helped us make substantial efficiency savings, with £1.1m saved since its inception in 2010. This is equivalent to 330 kitchens, 380 bathrooms or 21 new grant funded homes. We can report too that Cambria has undertaken 24,500 repairs in 2013 alone, as well as refurbishing 228 kitchens and 466 bathrooms.


Supporting employment and training opportunities

Throughout 2013, WWH has supported 58 apprenticeships, achieved more than 13,500 training hours and maintained an average of 83.75% regarding the use of local labour and supply chains.

We have also been successful in providing work and training opportunities through the Go Wales programme and one former scheme participant – Libby Price - has gone on to gain full-time employment as the manager of our new community resource centre in Hightown, Wrexham.

Another example of a successful work placement has seen University of Glamorgan Events Management student Lisa Williams working voluntarily with the PR & Marketing team. Lisa helped to raise more than £9,000 in sponsorship for WWH’s flagship Making A Difference Awards in October 2013.

Finally, construction, design and management student Jack Donald, from Leeds university, who gained a voluntary work placement with our North Wales-based development team, is now being paid for his contribution such is the quality of his work.

‘Making a difference to lives, homes and communities’ is our mission and we look forward to building upon the successes of 2013 with further significant support for work, employment and training opportunities across Wales.

The WWH Group is committed to supporting as many work and training opportunities as it can throughout its various areas of business.

Pictured is student Jack Donald (left) with Craig Sparrow, WWH Development Manager


Reported anti-social behaviour down by 50% In 2013 we reviewed the way we approached anti social behaviour and since then have completed a radical overhaul of our system.

Our new customer-centred approach has seen reported cases of ASB and nuisance behaviour drop by a huge 50% - from 1260 reported incidents in 2012 to 625 in 2013. Empowering residents to make informed decisions, encouraging and assisting residents to find lasting solutions, and, assisting residents to sustain their tenancies by putting relevant support in place have been the bedrock of our success to date.

Bucking the trend with evictions A further development about which we are extremely pleased is the drop in our figures for evictions.

Recently the media reported a rise in the number of evictions of social housing tenants, in particular after the introduction of welfare reforms. However, in complete contrast, WWH is bucking this particular trend.

In 2006 we evicted 3 households for anti social behaviour and 46 for rent arrears, a total of 49 evictions.

In 2013 we evicted 6 households for anti social behaviour and 10 for rent arrears, totalling just 16 evictions. These figures represent a drop of 67% over a seven year period.

Lynnette Glover, Head of Housing at WWH, attributes this drop to a ‘complete change in our culture which has seen us put the needs of our customers first. We work hard to help people to keep their tenancies with eviction as the last resort. Our new approach includes innovative rent panels In which persistent non-payers are given a significant last chance to address their problems and make a lasting arrangement which will tackle their arrears and these have been praised by the judiciary in Wales.’


WHQS and tackling fuel povertyAt Wales & West Housing we are committed to tackling fuel poverty as well as making our properties as environmentally friendly as possible. Here is a snapshot of some of the work we have undertaken in recent months to these ends:

• The vast majority of our properties have been insulated ( cavity walls and loft)

• We have made 600+ fuel switches to gas central heating at a cost of approximately £1.5 - £2m

• We have spent approximately £1.3m on existing stock, completing:

34 ground source heat pump

retrofits 49 air source heat pump retrofits

with remote monitoring and control• We will be undertaking 4 whole

house smart energy system retrofits (planned for May 2014 in partnership with Cardiff and Glyndwr Universities (part of the SOLCER project)

• We were winners in the Renewables Innovation category in the 2014 UK Energy and Environment Awards

• Our residents at Western Court retirement scheme in Bridgend were also winners of the UK Sustainable Tenants of the Year Award 2014

We have now met the Welsh Housing Quality Standard and our enduring focus continues to be tackling fuel poverty, helping to make homes warmer and reduce bills.


Part of WWH’s new 147 affordable housing development in Hightown, Wrexham

Housing for their generous donation which will allow us to enhance the vital work our foodbanks do across Wales. As people in Wales find their circumstances becoming more difficult the Trussell Trust welcomes our partnership with Wales & West Housing and their recognition of the challenges that many people across our country are facing.”

L-R: Karen Lewis, WWH Scheme Manager, Cleide Correia, Tony Graham and Anne Hinchey

Supporting the Trussell Trust and foodbanks across Wales

Representatives of the Trussell Trust and supporters of Merthyr Cynon Foodbank met WWH Chief Executive Anne Hinchey at Ty Pontrhun retirement scheme in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, to receive the cheque.

WWH, which manages more than 9,500 affordable homes in 12 local authority areas across North, Mid and South Wales has been working closely with the Trussell Trust and foodbanks across Wales for the past year. WWH operates foodbank collection points in many of its retirement schemes across Wales, as well as in their offices in Cardiff and Flint.

Across Wales WWH staff and residents have donated more than 640kg of food to foodbanks in Flintshire, Wrexham, Cardiff, Vale of Glamorgan, Bridgend as well as Merthyr Cynon in the past 12 months.

Tony Graham, manager from Trussell Trust Wales, said, “I would like to add our grateful thanks to Wales & West

Earlier this year the Board of Wales & West Housing donated £5,000 to the Trussell Trust, the organisation behind foodbanks across Wales.


The new Hightown Community Resource Centre

Left: The Polish community in Hightown celebrate Christmas at the new HCRC

Ongoing development works at Kingsmills Road, Hightown, Wrexham

Running the London Marathon for Stroke Association WalesWWH Housing Officer Andrew Pritchard ran the 2014 London Marathon, raising more than £3000 in aid of Stroke Association Wales.

Andy, who works in the Bridgend area, was motivated to enter the race by seeing at first hand the devastating effects of a stroke after his grandmother suffered a series of attacks.

Congratulations to Andy on completing this, his first marathon, in an impressive four hours, three minutes and 26 seconds and if you would like to donate you can still do so, post-event at his Virgin Money Giving page: www.virginmoneygiving.com/AndrewPritchardLondonMarathon2104


New developments in the county borough

Development Manager lead on projects for WWH in North Wales. We know there is a strong demand for new homes across the county and we work well with the housing planning sections. We have several projects underway and more in the pipeline. Says Craig: “As a local man I see at first hand the difficulty people experience in finding a home they can afford.”

Our flagship and award winning extra care scheme at Llys Jasmine has been fully occupied from Christmas 2013 and residents are very settled.

WWH is building a portfolio of extra schemes and its third is due to go on site in Newtown, Powys, very shortly and Craig is also working with the council to explore options in Holywell.

Flintshire is an important county for Wales & West Housing in terms of new developments.


More affordable houses for Greenfield

With £4.65 million funding from the Welsh Government, construction work is about to start on the £7.8m scheme. Anwyl Construction has been contracted to build the development which will

We were delighted to be given the opportunity to develop more affordable homes for local people in Flintshire, with 58 new homes planned for Glan y Don, Greenfield, working in partnership with Flintshire County Council.

Construction work starts

We are one of, if not the most active, developers of affordable housing in North Wales and work has started on another substantial project in Flint.

The £3.3 million project will result in the development of a new purpose-built block of 33 apartments for the over-55s in the heart of Flint.

Anwyl Construction have been appointed to work on the site of the former Delyn Council Offices at Flint House in the town. Working in partnership with Flintshire County

at Flint House

comprise 44 houses and 14 apartment to meet the local social housing need. There will be a mixture of 1 bed, 2 bed, 3 bed and 4 bed homes. Completion will be in 2015.


Council, each apartment will be insulated above the required standards and equipped with super-efficient gas boilers.

Shayne Hembrow, Deputy Chief Executive of Wales & West Housing, says: “Flint House is a fantastic new development of energy efficient, warm and affordable homes. Funding from the Welsh Government and our partnership with Flintshire County Council has made this possible and provided a much needed boost to the local economy. Affordable housing is more important now than ever and this project, along with our scheme at Glan y Don, Greenfield, will help make a real difference.”

Councillor Helen Brown, Flintshire County Council Cabinet Member for Housing, said: “Developments like this are essential to help support affordable homes and Flintshire County Council is committed to providing affordable housing throughout the area.

The partnership of the Council, Welsh Government, Wales & West Housing and Anwyls is a great example of agencies working together for the benefit of local residents.”


Double delight for brothersOffering high quality, meaningful work experience and training opportunities is a key priority for the WWH Group as a whole as you will have read in our Wales-wide news section, and two brothers from Bagillt, North Wales, provide a good example of this commitment in action.

Taken on as apprentices by our subsidiary company Cambria Maintenance Services, based in Holywell, Coleg Cambria Deeside brickwork students Sam and Lewis Edwards say they are delighted with their new maintenance apprenticeships.

Lewis, 20, said: “It’s great learning about different skills in maintenance.”

Brother Sam, 18, agreed. “This apprenticeship is worth getting up for. I don’t mind working in all weathers, either. This opportunity will hopefully lead to full time employment.”


The brothers are attending Coleg Cambria Deeside as day release student and are studying a 12 month Level 2 NVQ Diploma in Construction Maintenance Operations. This includes college-based training and work-based evidence in areas including masonry, woodwork, plumbing, plastering and decorating repairs.

Dave Roberts, Deputy Director of Construction at Coleg Cambria, Deeside, said: “Getting students into work is our main goal.

It is a testament to this collaboration working effectively that two of our learners have been taken on by one forward thinking and driven organisation.”

Tenancy Support Officers- making a difference

Will Brooks, our Tenancy Support Officer working across North Wales has been supporting all of these residents to help pay or move to a more suitable home.

To date, 48 are managing to pay, some with the support of the council and four residents have been helped to move.

Some 59 of our residents have been affected by the bedroom tax in Flintshire.


As you will already have read in our Wales-wide news section, Castell Catering is our exciting new enterprise based in North Wales providing catering services in two extra care housing schemes, Llys Jasmine in Mold, Flintshire and Nant y Mor in Prestatyn.

While settling into their new home, Llys Jasmine residents have enjoyed the services of Castell Catering with themed meals.

One of the most exciting new social enterprises in North Wales

An example of this was on 4 March when Castell Catering provided pancakes on National Pancake Day to celebrate their commitment to the extra care scheme.

And we are proud to say that the high quality, nutritious food provided by Castell Catering supports Flintshire County Council’s commitment to healthy eating.

Llys Jasmine residents enjoyed the 4th of March this year as Castell Catering provided pancakes on National Pancake Day to celebrate their commitment to the extra care scheme.


They recently sponsored pupils at Ysgol Y Llan VA Primary School, Whitford, Flintshire, who reached STEM Cymru Engineering Education’s F1 Primary School North Wales regional final.

Also under our strategic aim to support the development of work, skills and training Cambria Maintenance Services has also formed a strong partnership with schools in North Wales.

Whitford Dragons race other schools

in F1 regional finals

Wearing their sporty boiler suits, sponsored by Cambria Maintenance, the team of six whizz-kids tested their car for the first time at Venue Cymru, Llandudno, in competition with 31 other primary schools.

The car, designed by Manufacturing Engineers Archie Tomas, 10, and Tomas Clapson, 11, achieved a speed of 0.996 seconds. Resources Manager Harvey Boyd and Design Engineer Daniel Roberts, both 10, helped get the car off to a great start.

Team Manager Jessica Owen, 10 was proud of their achievements. She explained: “It isn’t just about the fastest car, but about how we worked together as a team, writing to sponsors to ask for help. We also put a presentation together and built an exhibition stand.”

Oscar Davies, 10, was graphic designer, helping to design the car and come up with the branding for the boiler suits.

Mrs Fiona Roberts, teacher, said: “This was really worthwhile. The Whitford Dragons learnt that it’s all about taking part rather than winning that counts and they got so much out of the project. We’ll be back next year!”

Pictured above are: Nigel Parry, Tomas Clapson, Archie Thomas, Harvey Boyd, Mrs Fiona Roberts, teacher, Daniel Roberts, Mrs Catherine Hughes, teacher, Oscar Davies and Jessica Owen.


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Spotlight on flintshire summer 2014