TOP Awards
Dec 7, 2011Emanuel Whittaker are the proud sponsors of the Oldham TOP ‘Employee of the Year’ Award and will be presenting the award at the ceremony on 7th December at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Oldham
Trainees feature in BBC 1’s Newsnight
Nov 15, 2011
Rachael is inteviewed by the BBC for their Newsnight feature on youth unemployment
As part of its on-going commitment towards recruiting, training and employing local people, Emanuel Whittaker have taken on 4 new apprentices to work on their projects with Salix Homes in Salford.
Before being given the chance to settle into their new roles, the trainees were interviewed by the BBC to feature in their Newsnight article regarding youth unemployment.
New apprentice plasterer, Rachael was also given a ‘Star’ Award by Salix Homes CEO for her efforts.
Dovedale Community Celebrate
Aug 29, 2011Contour Homes residents living at Dovedale Court in Middleton are celebrating after the completion of a £190,000.00 improvement programme on their 2-bedroom flats.
Contour Homes Scheme Manager Bernadette Murphy said: “Over the past few months contractors Emanuel Whittaker renewed kitchens, carried out electrical up-grades and replaced boilers. Despite the disruptive nature of these works the customer satisfaction were 100%, based on a 100% response rate – you really can’t get any better than that!”
Frances Hall has lived on Dovedale for twenty years and said she would not live anywhere else. “I absolutely love living here,” she said. “My flat is on the top floor and the views are fabulous – on a clear day you can see the Pennines. There is a lovely community spirit here and we all get on and we were all delighted when we found out that Contour Homes was going to be doing this work.”
House-proud Frances kept her flat spic-and-span but admits that her old kitchen was a bit basic. “My new kitchen is lovely,” she said. “ I’ve also had a new boiler and central heating system and I feel like I’ve got a new home – without moving from the one I love!
“The work only took two weeks and the lads doing the work from Emanuel Whittaker were so polite and courteous. In fact, I used to just go and leave them to it!”
Tam Graham, Site Manager said he and his team place a great emphasis on respecting customers’ homes. “We like to give customers a real role in the works, from the choice of finishes to the quality and standard of works. We do joint snagging with customers before we hand over the properties to Contour Homes, that way we can be sure customers are happy with the quality of our work.”
Inspired by the work inside their properties the community formed a gardening club in May 2011, with help from Contour Homes Neighbourhood Support Officer Sandra Bush. This brought colour to the scheme and spruced up the outdoor areas. The Resident Engagement Team awarded funding for plants, soil and tools and Community Payback helped with the digging of old plants and weeds.
“We have not got a lot of ‘garden’ but we thought we could plant a few flowers and add some tubs and boxes and it would complete the job that Contour Homes and Emanuel Whittaker have started,” added Frances.
Julie Morgan, Resident Engagement Officer from Contour Homes said: “We have all heard and seen a lot recently about the lack of community spirit in this country – the residents of Dovedale Court prove that is not the case in Middleton!”
Graham Bullock, Supervising Surveyor from Symphony Housing working on behalf of Contour Homes said “from inception through to completion of the project Emanuel Whittaker’s have delivered the usually consistent and excellent level of Customer focussed service, standard of work and compliance with tight deadlines, budgets and Health and Safety requirements we expect. Yet another example of Contour Homes and Symphony Housing working in Partnership with their Planned Maintenance Contractors.”