Section: Registered Social Landlords

Car Sharing Helps ServiteThames Go Greener

ServiteThames announced it has teamed up with Zipcar, the largest and fastest growing car sharing club, to forge a radical and environmentally friendly work-life travel plan for its expanded staff at its housing HQ, following its recent merger with Thames housing Association.

The partnership will help ServiteThames better utilize its limited parking space and enable it to provide its increased staff of 120 employees with an alternative to the costs and inconvenience of bringing and parking a vehicle at work each day. The scheme will see 14 self-service Zipcars available in ServiteThames parking bays. During business hours, the Zipcars will be available exclusively to Servite Thames employees. During non-work hours the Zipcars will be available for reservation by all Zipcar members.

ServiteThames staff who chose to join Zipcar will receive a discounted annual membership rate of £25 plus £25 of introductory driving credit. In addition to their corporate membership, all ServiteThames Zipcar members will also be able to reserve any of Zipcar's 5,000 vehicles throughout London and North America for their personal or business use.

A leading urban lifestyle brand, Zipcar has 200,000 members and 5,000 vehicles throughout London and North America. In London, Zipcar provides cars for use by the hour and can save members an average of £450 per month on car related costs. It provides access to more than 200 vehicles charged at an hourly rate starting from £4.95 or £35 a day. Each reservation includes the congestion charge, MOT, petrol and fully comprehensive insurance.

2007 Operating Cost Index Results

Housing associations have delivered around £360 million in operating efficiency gains during 2005-07, according to the Housing Corporation as it publishes the 2007 Operating Cost Index (OCI) results for the largest housing associations in England. Published for the fourth year, the OCI allows the comparison of costs between associations.

The calculation of the index has been revised from that of previous years, as the movement in costs over time is factored into the approach. Previous years results have been restated and associations are able to track their own trend in results and compare that to others' over time.

Whilst associations have delivered around £360 million in operating efficiency gains during 2005-2007, the OCI demonstrates that total costs are - on average, increasing well ahead of inflation over the same period. There also remain significant differentials in costs between associations delivering similar services.

The sophistication of the OCI, over a simpler cost comparison, is in its identification of the drivers of costs and their financial impact across the sector. The OCI allows users to compare their costs with those of other associations with similar drivers.

Clare Miller, Director of Regulation at the Housing Corporation said:

"We have revisited the methodology to make better use of the historic data, with some interesting results. We now see some evidence of scale economies, which has not been evident before.

And, although we know the sector has secured significant efficiency gains during the period covered by this analysis, the wide range in results between similar associations suggests the scope for further gains in operating cost efficiency are deliverable and indeed should form a critical part of associations' business strategies.

A copy of the results can be obtained via the Housing Corporation's performance indicator (PI) website - www.housingpis.co.uk.

The results come complete with the full report from the consultants commissioned to produce the OCI, a briefing note, containing the main findings, a ready reckoner which shows how the index is calculated and provides the data sources for all years, with graphs tracking results over time for each association.

Housing Monthly Diary


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Reporting on June 2008

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