annual report 06-07 final

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North Hertfordshire HomesAnnual Report 2006/07

Growing stronger together

www.nhh.org.uk


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Our Mission Statement:

To be recognised as a

market leader by listeningto our tenants, developing

our staff and delivering

on our promises.


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ContentsAnnual report 2006/07

Who we are 2

Welcome 3

Focussing on neighbourhoodsand communities 4

Enhancing customer involvement 6

Achieving sustainable growth inour housing stock 8

Improving our existing stock 10

Developing an effective workforce 12

Management Board 14

The Executive Management Team 15

Financial summary 16

Statistical Information 17

How We Performed 17

North Hertfordshire Homes Annual Report 06/07 1


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Who we are

North Hertfordshire Homes (NHH) is thelargest registered social landlord inHertfordshire, providing around 8,200homes for rent including over 800 unitsof sheltered accommodation and around200 temporary and supportedhousing places.

We came into existence in April 2003to take over and improve the housing

stock of North Hertfordshire District

Council. Since then we have

established ourselves as a high

performing and cost efficient association

with an expanding development programme

stretching beyond the bounds of North

Hertfordshire.

We have a strongneighbourhood focus

and a firm

commitment to

tenant involvement.

Eleanor Lohr NHH Board Chair

Growingstrongertogether


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At a neighbourhood level we

have continued to develop both

our support for individual

tenants and for the

communities in which they live.

This year we have put in place

additional support for

vulnerable tenants and added

access to low cost loans to our

financial inclusion programme

for all tenants and leaseholders.

We have also passed significant

milestones in major community

programmes on two of our

larger estates including major

environmental improvements, a

multi purpose sports pitch and

support for youth work.

We continue to take our

responsibilities as a major local

employer seriously and this year

have further expanded our

apprentice programme and

developed relationships with

local schools, taking part in

mentoring schemes and

providing places for work

experience.

Finally we have once again

obtained top ratings in our

Housing Corporation

assessment.

Eleanor Lohr

Chair

Welcometo the fourth annual report of North Hertfordshire Homes

This has been another successful year with outstanding

achievements in all areas of our operations.

Our massive five year improvements programme is entering its last

year with many parts ahead of schedule. All of the 650 statutorily

defective properties which we inherited at transfer have either already

been refurbished or are scheduled for replacement with new houses.

We have installed 9,500 new security doors, replaced or upgraded

3,500 central heating systems and are on target to deliver a total of6,000 new kitchens and 7,000 new bathrooms by the end of this year.

Our development programme has expanded rapidly over the year with

over 100 high quality homes commissioned double the number for

the previous year.The figure will continue to grow year by year towards

a target of 500 a year by 2011/12.This growth will go hand in hand

with an expansion of our geographical area of operation and I am

delighted to report that this year we are not only providing new homes

for North Hertfordshire District Council, and St Albans District Council

but also Stevenage Borough Council.

This year we have entered the shared ownership market for the first

time. This is an exciting new venture which will extend the range of

housing options for people living in our service area. At the time of

writing, all of our first new build shared ownership homes have been

sold, and more will become available later this year. We are working

towards a target of 1/3 of all future development being destined for

this or other sections of the intermediate market

Resident involvement has always been a cornerstone of our business

philosophy and I am pleased to report the successful launch of ourTenant Forum. This is a monitoring and advisory group drawn from the

larger consultative group launched last year. This completes our

resident involvement structure which plays an important part in

ensuring that the services we provide are what our customers want and

give them value for money.



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We believe that a home is not just a building; it is also thecommunity in which you live.We have a responsibility tohelp create sustainable communities in neighbourhoods wherepeople want to live. Our devolved neighbourhood servicesstructure, and the funds that support it, gives us the meansto achieve this.

We begin with support for the individual tenant or familythrough our financial inclusion and tenancy support programmes.We provide free, independent budgeting and debt advice byfunding a specialist worker at the CAB and underwrite low interestloans from the local credit union. Our tenancy support is providedby our own staff, in partnership with specialist agencies includingHertfordshire Young Homeless Group and North Herts MinorityEthnic Forum.

We take a robust approach to anti-social behaviour and

harassment of all kinds extending to repossession action ifnecessary. However, we also have a number of successful measuresin place to engage with offenders and provide them with supportto tackle underlying problems and modify their behaviour.

We have neighbourhood officers rather than traditional housingofficers.They talk to tenants and listen to their concerns andideas for making neighbourhoods better.As well as influencingthe spending on our improvement and maintenance programmes,neighbourhood staff have access to a NeighbourhoodImprovement Fund which is overseen by our Tenant Forum.

The fund can pay for theimprovements tenants wantwhich are not covered bymainstream funding.

Where possible we establishand support local residentsgroups and encourage them totake the lead on local issues.

They meet regularly with theirneighbourhood officer and playa central role in neighbourhoodimprovement projects.Theseoften involve working withpartners such as the localcouncil or other statutory orvoluntary agencies who canbring in extra expertise orfunding.A current project

to build a multipurpose sportspitch and playground nextto the local shops in one ofour neighbourhoods hasbenefited from a grant fromthe Big Lottery fund followinga successful televisionpresentation by our partnerGroundwork Hertfordshire andwinning the subsequent phone

in vote.We strongly believe that youngpeople are a key part of ourcommunities and so NHH alsosupports initiatives to fundlocal youth workers and thetraining of residents to becomevolunteer youth workers.

Focussing on neighbourhoodsand communities

4 North Hertfordshire HomesAnnual Report 06/07


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...we establish and support local residents groupsand encourage them to take the lead on local issues.



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We believe that our tenants and customers should be at theheart of everything we do. We have been working hard tofind ways of increasing their involvement so that they canplay a part in the big decisions about the strategic prioritiesof the organisation and the way it delivers services.

Tenants already form a third of our board and have beeninvolved in taking decisions regarding our improvementsprogramme since day one.We also have a leaseholders forumwhich meets quarterly and support a number of neighbourhoodresidents groups. Our annual tenants conference in 2006 helpedshape our new three year Operational Plan. But we felt weneeded a wider and more sustained level of customerinvolvement in our decision making processes.

Eighteen months ago we launched our Have your say initiativewith a large advertising campaign and a series of road shows

across north Hertfordshire.We have built on the contributionsof those who have given us feedback through our service usersatisfaction programme by inviting people to join our TenantsPanel. Here they can choose from a variety of more direct waysto get involved. These range from agreeing to completeoccasional questionnaires on proposed service improvements,reading and commenting on drafts of new publications,attending focus groups, or joining service reviews. Over onehundred tenants have signed up.

The first major publicationworked on by our readinggroup was our new tenanthandbook which, thanks totheir involvement is easier touse and more customer friendlythan its predecessor.

We have held focus groups on

subjects including groundsmaintenance, the cleaningof communal areas in flats,a tenant reward scheme andmethods of rent payments.

We have used this activity toestablish our Tenant Forum.It meets quarterly and discussesmajor issues of its choosingwith managers. Agenda itemshave included plans torestructure and improve oursheltered housing provision,monitoring information onservice delivery performanceand recommendations toaward funding from ourNeighbourhood ImprovementBudget.Training is madeavailable to enhance their skills

and make them more effective.

A year on the forum is nowwell established. Its next stepis for NHH board members tostart attending meetings inthe autumn and establisha direct link between tenantsand the board.

Enhancing customerinvolvement



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Tenants already form a third of our boardand have been involved in making decisions...



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One of the principal reasons for the creation of NorthHertfordshire Homes was to increase the number of socialrented and affordable homes in the area. Since the opening ofour first new houses in 2005, our development programme hasexpanded rapidly with over 100 new homes commissioned in2006/7 and a target of reaching 500 new homes a year by 2012.

By that time we aim to be a major sub-regional housing providermaking a significant contribution to the governments housingobjectives for the area.We have already expanded beyond theborders of North Hertfordshire, supplying housing to three localauthorities and are negotiating with two more.This wider scaleof operation will not only help us find the additional sites we needto reach our target, but also bring us the economies of scale andwith them the ability to attract additional development funding.

However, we are committed to achieving growth without

compromising our ability to manage and maintain both new andexisting stock to the highest standards. Each development schemewill be financially viable in its own right and tenants will haveaccessible customer care and support available to them. We aregrowing organically outwards from north Hertfordshire but willcontinue to provide strong community links.

Our high development standards ensure that our homes have notjust energy and water saving features which make them cheaperto run, but also things like IT infrastructure to enable residents towork or study at home.

We take a lifetime view ofenergy efficiency and so workto minimise wastage duringthe construction processand use components whichreduce the need for futuremaintenance work.

We believe that as a

social landlord we havea responsibility to contributeto the creation of financiallyand socially sustainablecommunities. Suchcommunities are diverseand residents have a rangeof incomes and aspirations.This is why we are developinghomes with a range of tenures

including shared ownership,shared equity and intermediatemarket rent.

Achieving sustainablegrowth in our housing stock



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...our development programme has expanded

rapidly with 100 new homes commissioned...



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One of the biggest challenges facing NHH over current yearshas been the implementation of an ambitious 130 millionfive-year programme of major improvements to bring all ourhomes up to modern standards.

This was not just about making them more pleasurable places tolive, but also about achieving the governments Decent HomesStandard. This included, making them safer, warmer, increasingtheir thermal efficiency to cut carbon emissions and lower theirrunning costs.

After four years we remain on course to deliver the programme ontime, meet, and in some cases exceed expectations. Our programmeto upgrade and replace up to 650 system-built pre-cast reinforcedconcrete (PRC) homes, deemed by government to be statutorilydefective is a good example of this. Approximately 60 PRCproperties have been identified as needing replacing with those

remaining, being part of a phased refurbishment programme withan average spend of 40,000 per property.

In March this year, we celebrated the completion of therefurbishment of the last PRC home, a full year ahead of ouroriginal schedule. Not only are these renovated homes much morecomfortable and cheaper to run, their appearance is completelytransformed, giving them a more modern feel.

Another challenge has beenthe replacement of old andsub-standard kitchens andbathrooms, and again we arewell on target to complete ourfive year programme. We havefinished approximately 5,100to date and remain confident

that we will exceed 6,000 bythe end of 2007/8.

All of our homes have nowbeen fitted with double-glazedwindows and over 8,500 newdoors have been installed outof the 10,000 required. Over3,500 homes have new orupgraded central heatingsystems and a further 1,200

have been rewired.

Although our originalimprovements programme hasonly one more year to run, thetask of keeping our propertiesin a modern state, will neverfinish. Our continuedinvestment in our plannedmaintenance and capital worksprogrammes will ensure that

we are able to meet thischallenge and our propertieswill remain homes of which weand our tenants can be proud.

Improving our existing stock


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...in March this year, we celebrated the completion

of therefurbishment of the last PRC home........


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We recognise that without the skill and dedication of our staff,we would not be able to offer the level of support and servicethat our tenants, leaseholders and stakeholders have come toexpect. Our aim is to nurture talent within the organisationand attract new talent from the wider community.

Training is a fundamental part of our culture and we providean extensive programme of in-house training, ranging fromgeneral IT skills to specialist trade and care courses.The choiceof courses offered each year is driven by the annual trainingneeds assessment carried out as part of our annual employeeappraisals. We also utilise external courses for individualstaff where appropriate and support them in studying forprofessional qualifications.

Every new member of staff takes part in our induction day,whether they are a new board member or a new care worker.

The day gives everyone an overview of the whole business,a clear understanding of how they fit in and the importance theircontribution has to the rest of the organisation.

We recognise that we not only need to create a skilled workforcefor today, but also for the future.We have therefore builtrelationships with local schools and colleges, creating mentoringprogrammes and offering work experience. We have exhibited atcareer fairs and talked to many young people about theopportunities within a progressive organisation such as ours.

We are especially proud of ourApprenticeship Scheme, whichcontinues to attract increasingnumbers of applicants yearon year.Apprentices studyfor nationally recognisedqualifications and we havea very good track record of

employing apprentices fromprevious years onto ourpermanent workforce, whohave then gone on to holdsupervisory posts.

We have recently introduceda management developmentprogramme in conjunctionwith The Chartered Instituteof Management.This is a two

year course which offersmanagers the opportunity toobtain a professionallyrecognised qualification.

Our annual staff survey is aninvaluable tool in capturing thethoughts and opinions ofemployees, and measuring oursuccess in achieving ourobjective of being an

Employer of Choice. Recentsurveys have shown a steadyimprovement in staff moralewhich we believe is a directresult of our commitmentto involve, develop andencourage staff.

Developing aneffective workforce


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Training is a fundamental part of our cultureand we provide an extemsive programme...


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AnnGilligan

Tenant BoardMember

EleanorLohr

ChairIndependentBoard Member

RalphKitchener

Vice-chairTenant BoardMember

JoanKirby

NHDC Nominee

GordonJohnston

IndependentBoard Member

HowardMarshall

NHDC Nominee

SantokTakhar


PaulineWalker

Tenant BoardMember

DouglasKell

NHDC Nominee

HeatherWright

Tenant BoardMember

DavidKearns

NHDC Nominee

PatriciaMarshall


LyndaNeedham

NHDC Nominee

JackieThomas

Tenant BoardMember

CaraGelston


North Hertfordshire HomesManagement Board 2006/07


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The ExecutiveManagement Team

Kevin ThompsonChief Executive

Kevin has had a long career in housing, both inthe voluntary and statutory sectors as well aswith social services, policy and with national andlocal voluntary organisations. He has workedclosely with the housing association sector over

20 years and been Chief Executive of NHH sinceits inception.

Brian MilwardDirector of Finance

Brian is a chartered accountant and has twelveyears experience as a Finance Director in socialhousing. Before moving into social housing, heworked for US multinationals in France, the UKand the USA.

Paul MurtaghDirector of Property

Paul is a Chartered Surveyor with 26 yearsexperience of working in the property sector ofsocial housing. He has worked both for housingproviders and a construction company specialisingin maintenance and improvement work

Victoria HisgroveDirector of Operations

Victoria has worked in housing for 17 years in avariety of roles in both housing managementand repairs before joining North HertfordshireHomes as Director of Operations.


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Financial summaryfor year ending 31 March 2007

Consolidated income and expenditure account for our fourth year of trading.

Ourincome of 33,769,000 was receivedfrom the following sources:

82% General

14% Shelter housing

2% Temporary housing

1% Other social housing

1% Other

53% Maintenance and repairs of properties

23% Services

21% Management

2% Depreciation of properties

1% Bad debts

Our total costs were 21,094,000 and 91.2% ofthese were in respect of social housing lettings.Operating costs were spent in the following areas:

Income OperatingCosts

Social Other SocialHousing Housing

Total Lettings Activities Other 000s 000s 000s 000s

Income 33,769 32,222 1,315 232Operating costs (21,094) (19,230) (1,785) (79)

Operating surplus 12,675 12,992 (470) 153Net sale proceeds from sales of houses 576 ------- ------- -------Operating surplus 13,251 ------- ------- -------Net interest (7,948) ------- ------- -------

Net Surplus in year 5,303


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Statistical Information How We Performed

Our housing stock as at March 31st 2007

General needs housing 7035Housing for older people 842Supported housing (including temporary accommodation anda small number of units leased to specialist support agencies) 218Shared ownership 75Leaseholders 542TOTAL 8712*Does not include 6 former wardens homes awaiting development

Average rent levels (all general needs tenants)Bedsit 1 Bed 2 Bed 3 Bed 4 Bed

51.84 58.64 65.87 69.71 75.57Who we housed in 2006/7(general needs and housing for older people)1.Type of accommodation

Bedsit 1 Bed 2 Bed 3 Bed 4 Bed Total

28 210 145 102 7 492General needs and housing for older people combined

Economic circumstances of our tenants (head of household)Gen Supp

Circumstances needs Housing

Working full-time 35.7% 14.6%Working part-time 11.5% 7.9%Govt training/new deal 0.0% 0.4%Job Seeker 8.4% 11.0%Retired 5.5% 36.2%Not seeking work 25.6% 11.8%Full-time student 0.9% 1.6%Long term sick/disabled 10.4% 13.0%Other (adult) 2.0% 0.0%Household composition Gen Supp

Composition needs housingSingle older person (60+) 2.6% 26.2%Older couple (at least one 60+) 3.5% 4.7%Single adult (16-59) 35.4% 39.8%Two adults (16-59) no children 6.9% 6.2%One adult + at least one child


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North Hertfordshire Homes Limited

Registered Office

Rowan HouseAvenue One

Letchworth Garden CityHertfordshire SG6 2WW

Registered AuditorsGrant Thornton UK LLPDaedalus HouseStation RoadCambridge CB1 2RE

Solicitors

Winckworth Sherwood35 Great Peter StreetLondon SW1P 3LR

Bankers

Barclays Bank Plc1 Churchill PlaceLondon E14 5HP

North Hertfordshire Homes is an Industrial &Provident Society with charitable rules.Registration Number: 30003R

North Hertfordshire Homes is registered with the Housing CorporationRegistration Number: L4370

Further copies of this report may be obtained from:John KnoxPerformance and Quality ManagerRowan House

Avenue OneLetchworth Garden CityHertfordshire SG6 2WW

Telephone: 01462 704107E-mail:[email protected]

This report is available in large print or other formats uponrequest to the same address. You can also ask for a translationinto another language.

Designedandproducedbypma*01462433203

annual report 06-07 final

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