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.