The shortlist for this year’s Northern Housing Awards has been revealed and we’re absolutely delighted to be named a finalist in the Best Repairs and Maintenance Service category.

Our nomination celebrates all that has been achieved as part of our Repairs Transformation Project over the last year:

• The move to area-based working – promoting efficiencies, reducing travel time and increasing the team’s knowledge of the homes and customers in their area.

• The introduction of new technology like Repairs Sense, which helps us to identify patterns of repeat repairs; highlight any issues with product quality and flag up any additional needs a customer might have.

• The van stocks project, which ensures our vans are stocked with the right materials our colleagues need to do the job on the first visit. Our right first fix performance measure improving to 96% in quarter 3!

• A more flexible choice of appointments for customers – including ‘same day visit’ offers for joinery and plumbing.

• A New Home Standard which sets out clearly what customers can expect when they move into one of our homes.

• A Contractor Code of Conduct, which helps us to hold those working on our behalf to account on the service they deliver.

• Achieving the NICEIC electrical accreditation.

• Improved void turnround times and delivering on local authority funding projects

• Improved satisfaction rates from customers – including the month of November when the team scored 100% in the satisfaction surveys customers fill out following a repair!

These are just a few of the team's highlights that outline why they're deserving finalists! We’re crossing our fingers for them on the 21st May. 

But whatever happens, we’re incredibly proud of everyone who has played a part in this success, and grateful to every colleague for their contribution towards the improvements we’ve made for our customers.

You can see more about the awards and the finalists here.