Emanuel Whittaker give community centre a facelift

Feb 10, 2014

Emanuel Whittaker is renowned for its work in the community and so when our client City West Housing Trust was looking for help to spruce up a local community centre, they approached us for help.

Terry Kidman, Contracts Manager, said:  “Our team were already working on the Brookhouse Estate in Eccles refurbishing City West properties and so we were happy to provide assistance to the local community.  The first thing we had to do was to assess just what needed to be done.”

The Brookhouse Community Centre is owned by City West and is the venue for numerous community activities – many of them theatrical.

The kitchen and toilets in particular had seen better days.

“We took out the old kitchen units and replaced them with new ones which were kindly donated by Manhattan Kitchens,” said Terry.  “We also decided to utilise a ‘dead’ space near the kitchen and put in cupboards and units to provide extra storage facilities and more room for food preparation. In the toilets we provided new flooring and repainted them which really made a difference.”

The £6,500 facelift was completed within a week and with minimum fuss or disruption to the numerous activities that take place within the Centre.

Fiona Canavan who regularly attends the Centre said:  “We were so pleased that Emanuel Whittaker was able to help.

“The Centre is a much loved and well used community resource and as a result it was looking a little tired.  Now the renovated kitchen and toilets look as good as new and will no doubt last us for many years to come.”

Martyn Hague, Head of Communities and Neighbourhoods at City West, said: “The community centre is a focal point for customers in the area and we are delighted Emanuel Whittaker were able to help with the improvement works.

“The feedback from our customers has been fantastic and we hope they can continue to enjoy the many events that bring the community together.”

Emanuel Whittaker raise funds for Holly’s Heart

Feb 6, 2014

The Children’s Heart Surgery Fund at Leeds General Hospital is looking £2414 fatter thanks to the generosity of Emanuel Whittaker and our partner suppliers and sub contractors.

Emanuel Whittaker has recently given its support to a Charity Golf Day to raise monies for this fund which is very dear to the heart of Health, Safety & Environment Manager, Lee Bradbury, whose daughter Holly has been receiving treatment at the unit since she was born.

Lee and his family live in Greenfield and Holly was born with a Ventricular Septal Defect with Double Outlet Right Ventricle, a congenital heart defect, which means she has very little wall between the two pumping chambers of her heart.

Lee said:  “Holly’s condition would have continuously deteriorated with breathing getting harder and Holly at risk of heart attack or failure. Her prognosis was that without immediate corrective surgery, she would only live until she was six or seven years old and as a result we agreed to Holly having several major operations, when she was four months old, two and six, and obviously each one was very worrying for all of us.”

“Everyone at the Fund is immensely grateful for the monies which help to provide specialist equipment for the Paediatric Heart Unit at Leeds General Infirmary, and make life in hospital easier for the children that stay there.  This includes providing play room toys, DVDS, games, iPod and TVs.”

It’s good news for Holly who, thanks to her operations, can now look forward to a normal life.

“Thanks to the work and dedication of everyone at the hospital, Holly has a future,” said Lee. “She will never be able to win a race but at least she has the energy to take part now!  The generosity of the supporters of the Emanuel Whittaker Charity Golf Day means that other children will be able to enjoy the same great support that we did.”

Emanuel Whittaker selection boxes help families in need this Christmas

Dec 16, 2013

Emanuel Whittaker has been playing Santa this week. The company’s employees have been asked to support the Your Manchester Challenge, a scheme being organised by social housing provider Your Housing Group to prepare and deliver 1250 seasonal gift packs to residents across the Greater Manchester area.

Clive Newton Managing Director for Emanuel Whittaker said:  “We work with Your Housing Group as part of the Procure Plus Framework across several of its housing estates and we really liked the idea of the Challenge.  We appealed to our head office staff and everyone working across our North West sites to get involved and as usual, our staff have been very generous.

“Even sub-contractors such as M&R Heating joined the campaign.”

The Your Manchester Challenge seasonal gift pack will be suitable for up to four people and contain no fewer than eight items – four of which will be food related.  The packs will be delivered to people who are living in difficult financial circumstances.

Emanuel Whittaker work with social housing organisations across the region and recognise how people on low incomes are struggling to cope with bills, particularly at Christmas.  “The high price of energy in particular is having an impact on household incomes,” said Clive.  “Some residents have to decide whether to heat or eat and so the gift packs will provide some help – plus it’s always nice to receive an unexpected gift at this time of year.”

The Trussel Trust, a charity that works with local communities to combat poverty reports that 13 million people live below the poverty line in the UK and everyday people go hungry for reasons ranging from redundancy to receiving an unexpected bill on a low income.   As a result, there has been a 170% rise in numbers turning to food banks in the last 12 months.

Emanuel Whittaker staff have now delivered over 250 selection boxes to Your Housing Group who will add them to their seasonal gift packs.  Zoe Hampson from the housing association said: “We launched the challenge after our team saw first-hand the extent of food poverty affecting some residents in the region.

“Since September the local teams across Manchester have been working tirelessly to raise money and work with partners like Emanuel Whittaker to gather donations in order to achieve our target. The generosity of Emanuel Whittaker and their sub-contractors will certainly help.”

Support the Challenge on Twitter @Mcr_Challenge and “like” it on Facebook: Your Mcr Challenge

Residents get an extra helping hand during Property Maintenance Week

Nov 27, 2013

Emanuel Whittaker has been using National Property Maintenance Week as the perfect excuse to carry out numerous small jobs for residents and provide general property advice.

Contracts Director John Gallagher said: “We are already renowned for our customer service and we thought we would really push the boat out during Property Maintenance Week.  Our on site teams have responded very generously to our appeal to help out residents in need.”

The company’s teams team carried out dozens of jobs such as re-hanging an internal door for a Rochdale Boroughwide Housing resident,  putting up new window blinds for a City West Housing resident, re-setting a Salix Homes resident’s boiler,  hanging winter flower baskets for a Contour Homes resident and a challenge for a Your Housing Group tenant which involved a whole team across several hours.

John said:  “Mrs Hannah Igo is 84 and has arthritis which greatly affects her mobility. Her husband who looked after the garden died 10 years ago however, the decking and gazebo which he had built  had fallen into such a state of disrepair it had become too dangerous to walk on.

“Mrs Igo casually mentioned to the team how she avoided going into the garden because of the slippery decking and so a team completely removed the decking and gazebo frame to provide her with safe access to the garden again.

“Needless to say Mrs Igo was absolutely thrilled with our team’s good deed and was really moved by the fact we had taken the time to do it.”

In addition to the practical jobs, Emanuel Whittaker staff also provided advice on common winter weather problems such as condensation and locating the stoptap in case of frozen pipes.

John adds: “It was good to help out so many residents and we also reminded them about property maintenance issues that were their own, rather than their landlord’s responsibility. The feedback we received from residents were great and everyone involved feels a great sense of satisfaction.”

Salix Homes residents raise a cup to refurbished homes

Nov 6, 2013

Residents living in sheltered accommodation are celebrating the completion of major improvement works at their homes.

For the past six months, we have been working with Salix Homes to overhaul 45 homes at the Broomedge sheltered housing complex in Broughton, Salford.

The £500,000 improvement scheme has seen 29 homes in the main building and a further 16 cottage flats overhauled to bring them up to the government’s Decent Homes standard. The flats, which were built during the 1960s and cater for elderly residents, have been completely rewired and fitted with new kitchens, bathroom and doors. The communal lounge was also given a makeover and the laundry room has been refurbished.

Externally, the main building has been cladded to give it a fresh, new look and the old roof has been replaced. Green-fingered residents also lent a hand to makeover the communal gardens planting new plants and trees including a ‘Salix’ tree in honour of Salix Homes.

Residents Carole and Charles Wood are thrilled with their new-look home. Carole said: “I feel like I have been given a new lease of life, everything is now practical and simple. We are so delighted and proud of our new kitchen and bathroom.”

Salford-based housing provider Salix Homes was recently named by Salford Council as the chosen landlord to take ownership of the 8,500 council homes in Salford they currently manage in a proposed stock transfer.

This latest regeneration work forms part of a wider multi-million pound home improvement programme across Salford and the housing provider is promising to invest a further £700 million over the next 30 years if the stock transfer goes ahead.

Joe Willis, chief executive at Salix Homes, said: “Salix Homes is committed to improving homes and communities in Salford now and into the future and we’ve been delighted to work alongside our contractors Emanuel Whittaker to bring a new lease of life to these homes which were in dire need of upgrading.

“This investment has made an enormous difference to our tenants’ quality of life and we are proud to be able to provide them with modern and desirable homes which are comfortable and economical to run.

“We appreciate the patience of our tenants during the refurbishment work, but we know they are as pleased as we are with the results, which is testament to all the hard work that’s been put in.”

As the majority of the tenants are elderly, Salix Homes and Emanuel Whittaker have worked closely with residents to ensure minimum disruption.

Paul Robinson, site manager at Emanuel Whittaker, said: “The majority of tenants living here have benefited not only from work on their own individual flats but also from improvements to the communal areas.

“As many tenants are elderly and some quite frail we have been very careful to ensure that we worked closely with them or their families to keep stress levels to a minimum and with satisfaction levels running at 100%, I think we can confidently say we have succeeded.”

Mike Copple, chairman of the Broomedge Residents Association, has been impressed with the standard of service. He said: “Emanuel Whittaker staff have gone more than the extra mile in ensuring as far as possible that inconvenience to the residents was minimised and where issues arose they were dealt with in a caring and sensitive manner.”

To celebrate the end of work, residents enjoyed a tea party in their new and improved communal lounge.

Garry Holt, resident liaison officer with Emanuel Whittaker added: “The tenants are a great bunch and we will be sorry to leave. The tea party is our way of saying thanks for having us. It’s been lovely to see so many people turn up to say goodbye.”