A view from the Housing Corporation
The Gold Award scheme got off to a flying start last year, says Housing Corporation Chairman Peter Dixon, but this year the quantity and quality of the response has been overwhelming.
The high quality and variety of the 108 entries as well as the increase in numbers made the judges’ task all the more difficult. The enormous range of successful partnerships established by associations to take forward their programmes impressed us all, and the commitment and enthusiasm found among staff, board members and residents was inspiring.
In the Empowering Communities section, we witnessed the close co-operation of associations with residents to transform deprived neighbourhoods and promote social inclusion and community cohesion. In all cases residents’ lives were transformed through their community involvement. Training, education and job schemes liberate their talents and energy and boost their self-esteem.
We saw how crime and anti-social behaviour – and their financial and social costs to communities ¬– can be cut dramatically by providing sports, leisure and learning programmes for young people, and how young and old can be involved in making decisions about the nature of the services provided for them.
The entries in Environmental Sustainability category demonstrated clearly how housing associations regard the greening of their work, from building new homes to cutting down on paper waste in their offices, as a mainstream activity. A heady mixture of innovation and good practice supported the design of new homes, the use of renewable sources of energy and the prudent use of water.
A commitment to cutting carbon emissions and providing warm and healthy homes was found in associations of all sizes, and the involvement of residents in the design and planning of their homes was common to all of them.
This year’s winners have a busy year ahead of them, sharing their ideas with other affordable housing providers through the dissemination programme, which lies at the heart of the awards scheme.
Last year’s dissemination activity attracted a hugely encouraging response from all parts of the sector. About 1,500 delegates took on board the award-winning ideas through a programme that began in an overflowing hall at the Chartered Institute of Housing national conference, closed with a sell-out regional seminar at the Eden Project in Cornwall and included other national and regional conferences, summits, seminars, peer learning sessions and open days. As a lasting legacy of the first year, many associations in different parts of the country have forged permanent good practice and innovation links.
This year’s entries have confirmed the Gold Awards position as a Housing Corporation flagship programme. I congratulate all those associations who took part, particularly the 12 on the short list and the six winners. I urge other social housing providers to learn from their successes in the coming year.
Finally, I am grateful for the wisdom and experience of the judges and expert advisers who have read the submissions, visited schemes and, with some difficulty, chosen the six finalists.
The judges
Sir Duncan Michael (Chair) Housing Corporation Board Member and a Director of the Arup Trustees Company. Chairman of the Arup Group from 1995 to 2000, his career as a consulting engineer focused largely on work in the built environment.
Lord Richard Best President of the Local Government Association, he chaired the recent inquiry into the association’s work. A former Director of the National Housing Federation, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust, he is Chair of Hanover Housing Association.
Julie Fawcett Housing Corporation Board Member and a local authority tenant for 22 years, she is Chair of the Stockwell Park Community Trust, a tenant management organisation. Also chairs a charity that runs a project for young people and has strong tenant links in south London and the north of England.
Donald Hoodless A Housing Corporation board member and Chair of the Royal National Orthopaedic Trust and Skills for Care. A former Chief Executive of both the Circle 33 Housing Trust and the Notting Hill Housing Trust, he chaired G15 – an informal group of London’s 15 largest housing associations.
Roy Irwin Chief Inspector of Housing at the Audit Commission since 1999. Former Director of Housing Services in Bristol, he also worked at Sheffield and Derby during more than 30 years in local government housing. He is a member of the Local Government Task Force.
David Orr Chief Executive of National Housing Federations since July 2005 after 15 years as Chief Executive of Scottish Federation of Housing Associations. Previously Director of London-based Newlon Housing Trust, he also worked with young homeless people at Centrepoint for nine years.
Professor David Strong Managing Director of the Building Research Establishment (Environment), Professor Strong is a member of the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers Carbon Task Group, an ex-officio member of the British Energy Efficiency Federation, and a Council member of the UK Emissions Trading Group. He is Chairman of the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive Implementation Advisory Group.
