Understandably the Association is concerned that many of our tenants are at risk of fuel poverty. With inflation rising to its highest level in 40 years and the increase in the energy price cap, some tenants are having to choose between heating their homes or feeding their family. There seems to be no let up either with further increases expected to be announced later in the year causing an estimated 211,000 homes across Scotland to be at risk of being plunged into fuel poverty. Never have our tenancy sustainment services been more stretched, in particular our Energy Advice Project.  

Help with bills 
We have a number of funds and access to funding which we are using to provide tenants with energy top ups and food vouchers. However, these pots are not limitless and we need to continue sourcing funding to ensure our tenants get the help that they need and do not have to make impossible choices.

Carol Reid, housing operations lead explains:- "Many people may feel lulled into a false sense of security during the summer months as they may be spending less on energy bills whilst also accessing some of the monies from various Government interventions such as discount on council tax or various utility cash back schemes, freeing up a bit of cash for other essentials which have increased in price such as food and fuel.

"However, we believe that we need to get the message out now to encourage tenants to plan now for Autumn/Winter to give them a bit of a “cushion” when the colder weather and further increase in costs hit.

"We have set up an Energy Crisis Focus Group so that we can be proactive in our approach to alleviating fuel poverty and helping our tenants through these challenging times. An action plan has been agreed and we will ensure our frontline staff are equipped with the skills and knowledge to provide advice to our tenants or identify where further support is needed. By doing this we hope to alleviate some of the stress and burden placed on tenants during these difficult times.

"A number of events and promotions will take place during the coming weeks with regular updates being posted on both our website and Facebook page to communicate the action plan and engage with tenants.

"Our 2021 Resilient People, Resilient Places, tackling poverty strategy was created to highlight our commitment, as a social landlord, to tackle poverty and inequalities. We recognised the need for a strategy to ensure that as an organisation we understand the challenges our tenants are facing and we are proactive in our approach to supporting those who are vulnerable and most in need."

Contact the Energy Advice Project now!
Call David Barr, Energy Adviser or email to book your appointment.
T: 01224 202934 | E: [email protected]

Energy efficiency
We must also remember that if our tenants are not able to heat their homes adequately, this will impact on the fabric of our buildings, so as a socially responsible landlord we must consider how we can make our properties more energy efficient over the coming years. We are therefore arranging energy efficiency and property condition surveys over the summer to ensure we can validate which measure best suits each home to lower utility invoice costs and we are committed to continued investment in tenants’ homes to improve insulation and energy efficiency.

We are running a number of pilot projects to help us understand the benefits of low carbon power and heat which will include a decarbonisation project and making more use of solar PV and battery power. By fitting environmental sensors as part of any upgrade we will be able to monitor the real time benefits of the technology we are using, creating better maintained, healthier and energy efficient homes.

Our commitment to energy efficient homes also extends to our new build programme with any new developments from 2024 set to meet 2045 targets for energy efficiency. In addition to this, they will achieve at least a “B” Energy Performance Certificate rating and domestic heating and hot water will come from a zero-carbon heating source.

About Grampian Housing Association
As a socially responsible landlord we recognise that the provision of high-quality affordable homes can have wider social and economic benefits for the communities we serve in the North East of Scotland. In short, as a social landlord we go over and above our traditional remit of housing to make a real, tangible and long-term difference to meeting all other social policy objectives, like health and social care, child poverty, an ageing population, employment and education.

Five local charities, chosen by tenants of Grampian Housing Association, are set to receive donations through the annual distribution of £1,500 from its charitable fund.

Tenants in Aberdeen voted for Mental Health Aberdeen while in Aberdeenshire, tenants voted for the Forget Me Not Club and Aberdeenshire North Foodbank.  In Moray, Logan’s Fund and Moray Food Plus topped the poll.

Sandra MacIntyre, communications lead at Grampian Housing Association, said: “Tenants were really enthusiastic about supporting these charities and we would like to thank them for participating. 

“The importance of mental health and wellbeing has been brought to the fore as a result of Covid-19 so this is an appropriate way to play our part in raising awareness, promoting understanding of mental health and ensuring help is there when people need it.   

“Many of the Association’s tenants benefit from the services provided by foodbanks throughout the year so it is great to be able to support their work in this way.

“It’s the first time we’ve asked tenants to get involved in voting for their favourite charities and we were keen to acknowledge the work of charities which mean something personally to our tenants so this year it’s children’s cancer charity, Logan’s Fund and the Forget Me Not Club which supports people with dementia, their carers and families.”

A spokesperson at Mental Health Aberdeen said: “We would like to thank you for your thoughtfulness as we couldn't provide the service we do without generous donations from kind people like yourself.”

Mental Health Aberdeen provides support services, counselling and advice to children and adults and is dedicated to improving mental wellbeing.

Food poverty is on the increase.  Reasons for this are varied but include changes in personal circumstances, illness, welfare reform, low income and unexpected bills.  Last year alone, Aberdeenshire North Foodbank supported over 3,500 households and offers help beyond emergency food parcels.  Moray Food Plus also provides a variety of services to those experiencing or at risk of food poverty.  In addition, the charity works with partners to reduce the amount of local food waste taking surplus food and redistributing it amongst the community.

These charitable donations form part of Grampian Housing Association’s corporate social responsibility commitment and its wider role as a community anchor organisation to support

the third sector and voluntary activity in the communities it serves.

This commitment compliments the range of tenancy sustainment services which the Association provides itself to help tenants get the most out of living in their homes including projects such as SMART (money advice), ASSIST (housing support) and energy advice.  The work of these projects recently gained national recognition when the Association’s “Supporting Tenants” initiative was shortlisted in the Chartered Institute of Housing Scotland awards in the Excellence in Health and Wellbeing Category. 

Grampian Housing Association and its subsidiaries have concluded a successful recruitment process with Craig Stirrat being announced as the new chief executive officer of the Grampian Group (comprising Grampian Housing Association, Let’s Choose Leasing and TLC Housing Maintenance).

Craig, who has been Grampian Housing Association’s chief operating officer since 2018, will step up into his new role at the beginning of April 2022.

Abhi Agarwal, chair said: “Craig’s appointment as CEO is testament to the great talent we have within the Grampian Group.

“We conducted a rigorous recruitment process during January and February and were delighted by the response from many high calibre candidates.”

Having joined Grampian Housing Association in 2014, as director of business development, Craig has considerable knowledge and experience across many aspects of social housing and social care. He was previously head of service with Aberdeen City Council, director of of a national body and more recently a director with Fife Housing Group.

Commenting on his appointment Craig Stirrat said: “I am delighted and honoured to be entrusted to the position of CEO of the Grampian Group.

“It is my job to ensure that our tenants, customers and the communities we serve as well as the talented people in the Grampian Group remain at the forefront of our business and I look forward to continuing to drive the Group to deliver excellent customer focussed services and value for money affordable homes.

“At a time when many households are facing the challenges of an increased cost of living, I will aim to ensure that tenants feel they are being listened to and that we do what we say we are going to do to help them, for instance by improving the quality and energy efficiency of homes including through renewable energy and assisting with access to fuel support funds to tackle fuel poverty.

“As a charity with a strong moral compass and values underpinning this, the challenge to do better and more for those we are here to help has never been more important.”

Craig’s appointment comes at an important time for the Grampian Group as it moves forward in 2022 to launch the “Grampian Deal”, a customer first initiative being developed in liaison with tenants to deliver great service, great results and great value for money.

Services have already been redesigned through the creation of the role of Neighbourhood Officer. With smaller areas, staff are able to get to know tenants better and services can be tailored to the needs of tenants or neighbourhoods based on their feedback.

A new approach to digital services is being implemented for those who wish to access services in this way.

It is people who make an organisaiton and the Grampian Group is committed to being a great employer through continued investment in learning and development and sector leading initiatives around wellbeing.

Grampian is the largest housing provider based in the North East of Scotland, serving over 3,600 social rent and mid market rent households, along with over 1,000 factored owners and almost 500 sharing owners throughout Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray. It has a substantial development programme of new build homes and is committed to adding 600 properties to its portfolio by 2024 to play its part in addressing significant unmet housing need in the area.

An eventful final quarter of 2021 is being marked at Grampian Housing Association following shortlisting success for three nationally recognised housing awards.

At the SURF (Scotland’s Regeneration Forum) awards ceremony in December the Association was a finalist in the Best Practice in Community Regeneration category for its regeneration of the former primary school at Abergeldie School in Ballater, Aberdeenshire.  The rural housing development sympathetically combines retention of old buildings with modern new build and comprises 24 properties, a mix of flats and family homes.    

In late November, the Association’s tenancy sustainment services and customer response unit were shortlisted for two CIH Scotland Excellence in Housing Awards in the health and wellbeing and customer service categories respectively.

Sandra MacIntyre, communications lead at Grampian Housing Association said:- “We are so pleased to have been in the running for these awards and to have the opportunity to put the invaluable work being carried out by Grampian in the North East of Scotland back on the map.

“Ultimately the collective action of our teams means that our tenants are winners both in terms of the commitment demonstrated by staff in having their needs at the centre of what they do and the high quality of services in place to support them.  

“Congratulations to other shortlisted entries and the winners.”

Recently, the development at Abergeldie Road was officially opened by HRH The Prince Charles Duke of Rothesay.  Tenants will be moving into their new homes early in 2022.  Community engagement was integral in this project to deliver affordable housing to meet the housing needs of local people.   

The CIH award for excellence in the health and wellbeing category recognised the work of the housing support, money advice and energy advice projects.  Staff ensured the wellbeing of tenants was prioritised through the challenging times of Covid-19.  In addition, a range of new services were introduced to support tenants adversely affected by the pandemic including an energy crisis fund, tenant hardship fund and wellbeing calls.

In support of the submission a tenant commented: “Over the years I don’t know what I’d have done, or who I could have turned to if I didn’t have the help of my support worker who has been amazing.”

In the CIH Scotland Excellence in Customer Service category it was the Association’s “committed to customer service” initiative which caught the attention of the judges.

Frontline staff continued to provide telephone advice and support throughout lockdown.  As a self-organising team there are numerous examples of how they were able take into account the needs of individual customers and go the extra mile to improve their service delivery experience.  In addition, the team were involved in implementing a new telephone system, a new digital lettings service, These Homes, and CX-Feedback, customer experience software.  

Recognition in the awards demonstrates Grampian’s commitment to going beyond being a traditional social landlord by not only providing high quality affordable housing but supporting tenants to get the most out of living in their homes and creating communities where people want to live.