At Great Places we’re about so much more than just buildings. In order to provide Great Communities we need to focus on services and providing and directing our customers to the support they need to live fulfilled lives. Our profit-for-purpose approach allows us to invest in our communities and deliver some of this vital work, and our Community Investment Team is at the heart of how we deliver this offer.
Our Neighbourhoods Teams work across all of our regions to ensure we build up communities in which people want to live, stay and thrive, while our colleagues in Independence and Wellbeing frequently deliver life-changing services and support to some of the most vulnerable people in society.
Building successful, vibrant communities is a massive part of what we do at Great Places. As our customers emerged from the pandemic and navigated the cost of living crisis, our profit-for-purpose approach continued to offer support for them and their communities that stretches far beyond our standard landlord obligations.
As well making a difference through our Hardship and Resilience Funds, our Employability Coaches have supported customers into volunteering, work and training opportunities. Our Tenancy Coach service has once again proved a game-changer for so many individuals and families, offering support and advice on key issues including finances, mental health and moving home.
We work with partners to maximise these opportunities. This year our Community Investment Team was successful in drawing down £593,000 in external funds, some of which was through external contract delivery (ESF; DWP) and some of which was on behalf of our community partners.
We recognise the importance of developing employment and skills across our communities, and invest significant resources into this throughout our regions.
The CSF target around Employment and Skills was surpassed for 21/22, seeing 845 households in to work, training and volunteering, while a further 321 people (76% of whom were Great Places customers) were provided with advice, guidance and signposting.
One example of this work was when our Community Investment Teamed up with Oldham’s DASH Beauty and Training Academy to offer training and courses for customers looking to get into the beauty industry.
Katy West opened her business a week before Christmas 2020 but then had to close until April 2021 due to Coronavirus restrictions. Katy only got into the industry four years earlier after facing a very difficult time personally. However, after completing a beauty therapy course, she has turned her life around for the better with DASH offering treatments and courses for everyone, whatever their age or experience.
Katy explained: “Doing the beauty therapy course got me out of what was a tough situation at the time. I’m passionate about helping people and it is great to be working with Great Places to do just that and give people a chance to get some experience to get into the industry.”
Our partnerships manager, Rebecca Cremin, added, “Great Places Housing Group is delighted to be working in partnership with DASH to provide opportunities for our customers to train at DASH, which will give them the skills to establish a career in the beauty industry.
“We will also provide additional support from our employability team to ensure they receive the help they need to succeed.”
One of the many examples of our place making and regeneration work was seen in our anchor neighbourhood of Northmoor in February, when Our Community Investment Team partnered with performance makers Quarantine, to create an audio tour.
The tour took listeners through the neighbourhood, taking them past bus stops, shops and barbers while they listened to the invisible thoughts and unheard stories of the people who live there.
‘The people of’ was made using interviews and encounters with the people who live and work in the area and local translator Rafia Batool conducting interviews in Urdu, so that everyone could enjoy this cultural journey through the area.
Northmoor is one of our ‘anchor’ neighbourhoods and is an area we have been heavily involved in the regeneration of over the last 25 years. We have invested more than £17M, including the development of new homes for affordable rent and shared ownership, helping to transform Northmoor from a 19th-century neighbourhood to the vibrant and diverse place it is today.
Back in July 2020, Great Places launched the Community Resilience Fund, which provided much-needed financial support to charities, community groups and social enterprises.
One of the not-for-profit organisations that benefited from a £5K donation was Women’s Voices, based in Longsight, Manchester.
Women’s Voices, established in 2013, work with women seeking asylum, refugees, and other vulnerable women from diverse backgrounds by providing a platform to meet in a safe and accessible environment. The organisation also offers training for developing skills, confidence building, and encouraging independence.
Another great example of successful community partnerships and investment is at Salford Lifestyle Centre. In this video, its manager Nick Burke explains how it’s an invaluable asset for everyone that uses it.
Throughout 2021/22, £150,034 of Social Value was delivered by contractors within Great Places’ neighbourhoods. Some £109,469 of Social Value funding supported 48 projects attributed to 16 contractors, while 20 contractors were involved in 26 Social Value projects, creating £40,565 of social impact.
Below are some examples of the projects that have been delivered:
– A £9,000 donation to Morecambe Food Pantry supported an expansion of their services as they face ever-increasing demand;
– £13,000 supported 19 Christmas community projects across Great Places’ neighbourhoods, delivering support for 1,444 customers (pictured above);
– Two of Casey’s apprentices volunteered a week and a half of their time to support the construction of a digital space at the Better Together Centre in Rochdale;
– Vextrix volunteered their time to Moss Side Millennium Powerhouse to provide a condition survey, supporting the development of the space;
– John Southworth Builders partnered with Blackburn College to deliver 15 weeks of work experience for Construction Apprentices;
– Four contractors came together alongside our Neighbourhoods Team to deliver a community clean-up in our anchor neighbourhood, Northmoor.
Various tools are used to ensure that Great Places is working with organisations that will deliver social value to our neighbourhoods. These include:
Working with responsible businesses: potential providers are scored based on the social impact of their business operations related to the contract. Indicators look at the environmental impact, supply chain, treatment of staff and the measures put in place to tackle social inequality.
Social Value Pledges: bidders are scored on their pledges that go beyond core service provision to create wellbeing benefits to customers and communities by offering donations, time, skills and employability opportunities. Upon contract delivery the potential provider works in partnership with Great Places to pull together a Social Value Plan and identify opportunities where social value can be delivered.
Environmental Approach in Procurement: as part of reducing Great Places’ supply chain carbon footprint, environmental considerations are embedded within the contract to reduce the environmental impact of a contract’s operations.
We have identified four “˜Anchor’ neighbourhoods across our regions as part of our Sustainable Neighbourhoods Strategy. These are communities in which we have a large concentration of properties and greater influence to work with partners to deliver transformational change and make these areas where our customers want to live, stay and thrive. Our anchor neighbourhoods are:
Last year, we worked with our customers to put together Neighbourhood Plans for each of these key areas. Our Customer Involvement and Community Investment Teams asked customers, colleagues and partners what was important about their areas and the top priorities they wanted us to focus on moving forward.
From this feedback we’ve developed a set of Neighbourhood Plans outlining the priorities and objectives. We’ve continued to work with customers and partners on a variety of initiatives and our latest updates are available to view here.
During the past year, Great Places has been finalising the development of our ambitious £2.5million Community Centre in Wybourn, Sheffield.
The Community Centre, which had its grand opening in July 2022 and also includes two low-rise apartment blocks, will serve over 5,000 residents in our anchor neighbourhood. The new development at the heart of Wybourn was widely requested by residents in the areas and is intended to become a focal point for the neighbourhood. It will host a community cafe and much-needed space for a range of community groups, events, education courses and other engagement activities.
Commenting on the project, Raymond Kinsella, our Head of Neighbourhoods for the Yorkshire region, said:
“With 1,200 properties in the area, Great Places has a significant presence in Wybourn. The past five years has seen us undertake significant development in the neighbourhood, including an additional 200 new homes. The Village Centre is the last phase in this project and is an important part of our continued commitment to our customers and the wider neighbourhood, creating a vibrant new community hub in the heart of Wybourn.”
In August 2021 Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, officially opened Northmoor’s brand new Community Hub. Once home to the Northmoor community Launderette, the Hub now features a community cafe, internet and printing services, information station and a library.
The transformed community facility is used by the Northmoor Community Association (NCA) to deliver an extensive range of advice and online courses for local people, including the Next Step project.
Alongside a Covid-19 business grant from Manchester City Council and the generous support of other funders, the Hub was transformed in consultation with residents and made possible by Great Places as we carried out the renovation and provided project management support and signage through our social value activity procured through contractors, Casey and IGL Surveying.
As part of the project we updated three formerly vacant retail units and offered them at a negotiable rent to small local businesses who can bring in social value to the area and complement the services already on offer to the local community.
