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.”

Emanuel Whittaker has top apprentices – it’s official!

Oct 24, 2013

 

Tam Graham starts the event, winning the Mentor Award	Luke Carroll won Best in Trade(multi skilled and joinery)
Matthew Casey won Best in Trade (wet trade)	Rachel Howarth was voted for by her colleagues to win the Apprentices’ Apprentice Award

 

Emanuel Whittaker staff scooped four awards at an inaugural apprenticeship award ceremony recently.

The event hosted by Salford based Salix Homes is designed to celebrate and recognise young people who are working through an apprenticeship programme and Lee Bradbury, Health, Safety & Environment Manager said he was pleased the company have taken so many of the gongs.

“We firmly believe in giving young people the chance to train for a long term career,” he said.  “The Emanuel Whittaker apprenticeship scheme is run in close partnership with our clients and local colleges and we are proud to deliver a programme of modern apprenticeships, work opportunities and work experience.  Clearly we must be doing something right to win so many accolades.”

23 year old Rachel Howarth from Salford was voted for by her apprentice colleagues to win the Apprentices’ Apprentice Award.  She is an external wall insulation apprentice but initially trained in childcare. She swopped life in a predominantly female dominated environment for one with the boys.  She said:  “I absolutely love it and I am seen as one of the lads on site and that is how I like it.

Former Site Manager Tam Graham won the Apprentice Mentor Award.  Tam has now moved on to run his own business, but was delighted to be nominated by so many apprentices for the award.

25 year old Luke Carroll won Best in Trade (multi skilled and joinery) and 22 year old Matthew Casey won Best in Trade (wet trade).

Lee adds:  “We believe we have trained around 700 apprentices in our 175 year history.  The   positive   impact   of apprenticeships on individuals, businesses and the economy should not be under-estimated.

“In this time of record high youth unemployment, apprentices offer a skills-based learning programme which helps young people earn a living and provides employers with access to a pool of talented new recruits.

“We are very proud of our award winning young people and we are also grateful to Salix Homes for developing this award scheme which recognises their hard work and determination.”

New-look tower block transforms Salford skyline

Sep 28, 2013

A £3 million refurbishment project at an ageing Salford tower block has been completed.

For the past 18 months social housing provider Salix Homes has been working alongside construction company Emanuel Whittaker to overhaul Floral Court in Higher Broughton.

The 14 storey high rise building, which was built in 1964, has been completely rendered, cladded and painted in striking shades of orange and white, totally transforming the once grey tower block.

Internally the 88 flats have been fitted with new doors, modern kitchens and bathrooms and have been either rewired or electrically upgraded. The roof of the building has also been replaced and the lifts have been upgraded.

A state-of-the-art Eco-Pod heating system, which uses solar thermal energy, has also been fitted to the roof, which will slash the building’s carbon footprint.
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: “This major investment at Floral Court marks a major milestone in our Decent Homes improvement programme and we are very proud to have worked alongside Emanuel Whittaker to provide our tenants with the modern, desirable and economical homes they deserve.

“Salix Homes is committed to providing high quality accommodation for the people of Salford now and into the future and this refurbishment project is testament to this. Floral Court has been completely transformed for the better and we are confident that these improvement works will make a huge difference to our tenants’ quality of life.”

During the refurbishment work, contractors uncovered a commemorative brick inscribed with 1964 – the date the block was built. To mark the completion of the project, a mural has been created at the entrance to the building with the original brick, alongside a 2013 inscribed brick.

Resident Kevin Petitt, 55 who has lived in the block for 12 years, was chosen to unveil the commemorative brick mural. He said: “The improvement work has made such a difference to my home. The new heating system is just marvellous; I haven’t even had to use my heating for the past three months because the building is so warm.

“I loved my home before, but I love it even more now – it’s the best place I’ve ever lived. I was very proud to unveil the brick mural because this place means a lot to me, it’s my home.”

Terry Kidman, contract manager for Emanuel Whittaker, added: “It’s been a pleasure to work with the Floral Court residents who have reported 100 per cent satisfaction with the work we have done on their individual flats and the communal areas of the block. Although we will be sad to go we are pleased to be leaving so many happy customers.”

Salix Homes also worked closely with social housing procurement consortium, Procure Plus, to deliver training opportunities for local residents during the refurbishment work.

Jackie Roach, operations manager at, Procure Plus, said: “By working together on large projects, such as Floral Court, we have been able to assist Salix Homes in identifying and bringing together its material and labour requirements across different projects, improving efficiencies and securing favourable costings.”