And the winners are...
Housing Corporation News Release
Winners of the most coveted national housing awards announced
Tuesday 13 May 2008 Ref: 33/08
The winners of the prestigious Housing Corporation’s Gold Awards 2008 have been announced today (Tuesday 13 May 2008) in a special ceremony in central London.
There were three themes for the annual awards which were presented by Housing Minister, Caroline Flint. The winners are as follows:
Building cohesive communities
Winners:
- Ashram Housing Association
- Old Ford Housing Association
- The Papworth Trust
Finalists:
- Bradford Housing Community Trust and Manningham HA
- Industrial Dwellings (1885) Ltd
- William Sutton Homes
Delivering joined-up development
Winners:
- Great Places Housing Group
- Newlon Housing Trust
- Nomad E5 Housing Association
Finalists:
- Gentoo Group
- Peak Valley (Contour Housing Group)
- Sentinel Housing Association
Tackling worklessness
Winners:
- Accent Group
- Derwent and Solway Housing Association
- Places for People Group
Finalists:
- East Thames Group
- St Mungo's Community Housing Association
- Wakefield and District Housing
Now in its third year, the Housing Corporation's Gold Award scheme is firmly established as the most coveted and valued annual housing award in England. Entries were attracted from 71 housing associations, both large and small. Tackling worklessness (28 entries) was the most popular theme. Twenty associations competed for the joined-up development award. Building cohesive communities, the extra theme, attracted 23 entries. Each winning association will receive a cash boost of £50,000 to help fund a year long programme of knowledge sharing.
Sir Duncan Michael, Chairman of the judging panel said, "The inspirational work of this year’s nine Gold Award winners is dramatically changing the lives of thousands of people across the country for the better. We saw the astonishing transformation of run-down estates and neighbourhoods, community cohesion programmes that bring together divided communities and ground-breaking training and employment schemes that help men and women into work in areas of high unemployment.
"All nine are worthy winners and will spread their knowledge and expertise across the sector where their work can be replicated by those who face similar challenges. Spreading good ideas and practice is the whole idea of the Gold Award scheme, and I hope a great many associations will take part in the dissemination programme in the coming year to share the experiences and expertise of the winners and thus improve the lives of thousands more people.
"I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to all the winners, finalists and the housing associations who took part in the competition.”
Ends.
Notes to editors:
About the winners:
Building Cohesive Communities
Ashram Housing Association
Ashram's work to promote community cohesion in Birmingham has seen the association change from a specialist provider for black and minority ethnic (BME) communities to a mainstream organisation working with a diverse cross section of communities. Ashram’s passion for building cohesive communities has led to them adopting a Golden Thread principle where rather than seeing the issue as a marginal add-on, community cohesion is integral to everything that Ashram does.
This approach is evident through there work in a number of areas including sport, community design and advocacy. Through the East Birmingham Sports Inclusion project Ashram is working with partners to break down community and territorial tensions and barriers between the predominately white communities in Outer East Birmingham and the predominately BME (South Asian) communities of Inner East Birmingham. Ashram is leading this project on behalf of Sport England, the Football foundation, five housing associations, Birmingham city council and sports governing bodies.
Ashram is also using design to bring people from different communities together by encouraging them to get involved in urban design work shops. With a strong understanding of both community and mainstream service and policy imperatives Ashram has used a combination of training, awareness raising, network development, campaigning and research to better enable diverse communities to access appropriate services, take up opportunities and participate in the civic life of neighbourhoods and beyond. An example of the success of this approach is that following a multi-media awareness campaign there was a 200% increase in the reporting of domestic violence in the South Asian community in East Birmingham.
For more information please contact Boris Worrall on 0121 500 2090
Old Ford Housing Association
The association’s community inclusion team has launched an astonishing range of initiatives to promote community cohesion in an area of former Tower Hamlets council estates in Bow. The neighbourhood was blighted by high levels of crime, low levels of integration, inadequate community facilities and widespread poverty at the time of stock transfer.
At the centre of the work are eight community centres offering a huge range of services across the neighbourhood. Each centre meets the needs of a specific group, among them young people, the over 50s and families. One is a construction training centre. Another houses a credit union.
About 20% of the association’s staff are local residents, and Old Ford is moving towards a board made up of an equal number of resident directors and others by 2009. Meanwhile, the role of the community initiatives team has grown. Now 28-strong, it spends about £500,000 a year and has raised about £5 million since it was set up. Most of the money is generated from outside the borough.
For more information please contact Karen Rowley on 01603 703875.
The Papworth Trust
Papworth Trust have won the award for a scheme of 24 wheelchair-accessible homes on three sites, one of them shared with 22 flats for sale for disabled people, in the centre of Huntingdon. It has been a life-changing experience for many of the residents who live independently in self-contained flats with wide corridors and doors, level access showers, height adjustable kitchen units, easy-to–access sockets and alarm/intercom systems, and assistive technology as required.
The residents learn to cook at the Saxongate Community Learning Centre, which adjoins one of the three sites. Built by the Papworth Trust as part of the project, it has nine rooms, including two IT suites, an art room, an accessible kitchen and two rooms with height adjustable interactive whiteboards, plus staff offices, an atrium café and a hot-desking area. Taster sessions are held at the centre to encourage people to access a range of leisure activities and skills courses including cooking, IT courses, exercise classes, numeracy and literacy. A wide range of local organisations and community groups promote their work and volunteering opportunities in the community. Disabled people have volunteered at the open days.
For more information please contact Gail Cunningham on 01480 357259
Delivering Joined up Development
Great places Housing Group
Great Places have transformed an area of Longsight in Manchester. The Northmoor area of Longsight had been blighted by empty homes, crime and anti-social behaviour which has now become an area where people now want to live. Manchester Methodist Housing Association (MMHA), part of Great Places Housing Group has been working closely with Manchester City Council and many other organisations to transform Northmoor.
A programme of gradual renewal has seen new houses built, existing houses refurbished, other demolished and in some case, two knocked into one to provide homes for large families. Streets have been remodelled and the UK's first Home Zone completed. An alley gating project has led to a huge reduction in crime.
For more information please contact: Jenny Parkin on 0161 447 5049 or 07811 439081
Newlon Housing Trust
Newlon have been rewarded for their work in the Arsenal Regeneration Team (ART) which is working to create a 21st century neighbourhood around Arsenal Football Club's Emirates Stadium. Key components of the scheme include 1,400 affordable homes, among them 500 flats for key workers in Newlon's Ashburton Triangle development which is situated next to the stadium.
ART also promotes a range of local initiative through a community trust set up with funding of £620,000 from Arsenal FC. It runs a small grants fund that supports local voluntary and community organisations. Through this work new residents' groups have formed, and ART works with the local education authority on anti-bullying projects and to provide support for young people who have been excluded from school or at risk of exclusions.
For more information please contact: Joe Molloson on 020 7613 8097
Nomad E5
Nomad E5's award is in recognition of it work on a £90m regeneration scheme that is transforming South Tyneside's Cleadon Park estate. Once blighted by crime, anti-social behaviour, empty homes and high levels of deprivation, the estate is now somewhere where people want to live. The partnership is demolishing 580 older homes and make way for 750 new homes for sale and rent built in tenure-blind clusters, a primary centre, a library, a customer service centre and a community centre. Of 94 rented homes completed to date, most have been let to Cleadon Park residents through a lettings policy that gives priority to residents returning after temporary re-housing. An initiative to reduce anti-social behaviour through a partnership between the Council, South Tyneside Homes and Northumberland Police has produced a 50% drop in reported crime since the project's launch.
The turnaround in fortunes is a result of the hard work of the Cleadon Park Community Partnership (CPCP), set up the association, South Tyneside Council, Ridgeway School and Family Support Centre and Bellway Homes.
For more information please contact: Alison Richardson 0191 2923216
Tackling Worklessness
Accent Group
Accent's award is in recognition of the Bradford Initiative which is one of several construction skills training programmes run by the partnership. Each scheme is tailored to the meet the needs of the local community and fill skill gaps for the local market. In Bradford, where BME unemployment is more than 50%, three initiatives were launched in 2005.
Youthbuild – which helps young people from ethnic minorities into construction, with a focus on those at risk of offending and outside of the education system;
Women into Construction – which has a particular focus on women from ethnic minorities. An additional programme has been developed in response to demand from Accent's own tenants; and
Finance and Business – which encourages women, particularly from ethnic minorities, to gain administration, business and financial skills.
Accent works in partnership with Bradford City Council, training bodies, local colleges and employers. The scheme is funded by Access and eight other organisations, including the Learning and Skills Council, the European Social Fund and the Construction Industry Training Board. More than 50 local employers are involved, including Yorkshire Building Society, Abbey, and local construction companies such as Lovells, Wates and Bullocks.
Accent has hit or exceeded all its targets, an extraordinary achievement in what is recognised as a particularly difficult market. In the past two years, 1,000 trainees have gone through the YouthBuild project alone, with 83% achieving qualifications.
For more information please contact Ian Campbell on 01274 536095
Derwent and Solway Housing Association
Derwent and Solway Housing Association’s Routes 2 Work initiative has helped 1,280 people into employment since it opened its doors in 2005 . One of the most deprived communities in the UK, West Cumbria has been in economic decline for more than 30 years. Many households are experiencing second and third generation unemployment in an area where jobs are hard to come by.
Routes 2 Work was set up by Derwent and Solway, a member of the Harvest Group, to help its tenants and others break through the employment barrier. Its clients include people with mental health problems, homeless people, ex-offenders and people with drug and alcohol problems. A special programme helps lone parents and those with child care responsibilities into work through a programme of interventions.
For more information please contact Jacqui O'Neil on 01900 6075268
Places for People Group
The group’s many local projects work with the most economically disadvantaged groups, among them the long-term unemployed, incapacity benefit claimants, people from minority communities and lone parents. Facts and figures include:
- number accessing worklessness services: 5,987;
- clients placed into employment: 1,277;
- clients accessing learning: 2,301;
- number accessing self employment awareness raising sessions: 1,399;
- number of new businesses established: 245; and
- number of existing businesses supported: 836.
The group has more than 25 projects, each of them delivered in partnership and focussed upon specific neighbourhoods and target groups. The projects include:
- Building Links: Bridges the gap between those seeking work in the construction sector and the skills needed by employers. The project matches individuals with contractors using expert advisers and a skills database. Training is developed and procured, financial assistance is provided to remove specific barriers. Continuing support is available to both the employer and the employee;
- Business Plus: A partnership with three small black and minority ethnic housing associations (Tung Sing, Mosscare and Arawak Walton) in Manchester to deliver ‘pre-start’ and ‘post-start’ business support and training.
For more information please contact David Mills on 07929 161444 or 020 7520 7403
Launched in June 2005, the Gold Award competition is open to housing associations able to demonstrate outstanding performance in key areas of business. The award aims to identify excellence and raise operational standards for the benefit of residents across the sector.
The judging panel is as follows:
Chair of judges
- Sir Duncan Michael, Housing Corporation Board
Judges
- Peter Dixon, Housing Corporation Chairman
- Shoukat Moledina, Housing Corporation Vice Chairman
- Chris Holmes, Housing Corporation Board Member
- Donald Hoodless, Housing Corporation Board Member
- Lord Richard Best, Chair of Hanover Housing Association and President of Local Government Association
- David Orr, Chief Executive National Housing Federation
- Roy Irwin, Chief Inspector Audit Commission
- Ted Cantle, Environment Agency Board Member
- Pam Temple, Director leading housing strategy and legislation division at Communities and Local Government (CLG)
- Professor Michael Kelly, Prince Phillip Professor of Technology at the University of Cambridge
The Housing Corporation is the Government agency responsible for investing in new affordable homes and regulating over 1,500 housing associations across England. Its biggest ever investment programme of £3.9 billion for 2006-08 will fund 84,000 homes; 49 of these will be for affordable rent, and 35,000 will be for affordable sale through the Government's new Homebuy initiative, helping people to get a foot on the property ladder.
The Housing Corporation is working with English Partnerships and Communities and Local Government to establish the proposed new national housing and regeneration agency, Communities England.
