Call Centre for Emergency Repairs
London's first ALMO to join a shared customer service operation is Homes for Haringey - designed to improve responsiveness to residents and tenants needing emergency help during the evenings, early hours and weekends.
The service will receive calls for emergency housing repairs and is run by Vangent, a specialist customer service management firm from a contact centre based at London Bridge.
Running alongside service provision for a number of other London agencies, the service is underpinned by ground-breaking computer systems that help customer service agents to quickly determine the nature of a call and then commission the appropriate agency or contractor to attend to the need.
The service is backed by London's Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnership - Capital Ambition, which is encouraging the uptake of the service across the capital.
Assist Alarm Link for Residents
Residents will be better protected at home and at work thanks to a new extended alarm service being launched by Barnet Homes.
The Assist service can offer a fast and effective response to anyone who has an accident or is at risk at home or while working alone. Its wide range of monitoring services can provide security and reassurance for individuals living anywhere in the Borough and for local businesses.
The launch of Assist will build on the success of Barnet Homes' previous alarm service, Lifeline, which has 4,500 users and receives around 80,000 calls a year. Also on offer from Assist are lone worker monitoring, Telecare and free home fire safety checks.
Assist comprises the following services:
Combined Heat & Power Scheme for Towers
Two landmark tower blocks are to be the first of Birmingham City Council's housing stock to benefit from the award winning Combined Heat and Power led district energy scheme.
The pioneering work in the domestic arena has been made possible by successful funds received from the Homes and Communities Agency with regard to Low Carbon Infrastructure.
These exemplar blocks were selected because of their proximity to the existing commercial combined heat and power infrastructure beneath Broad Street.
The work championed by the Birmingham District Energy Company (BDEC), a partnership between the Council's Urban Design team and leading energy partner Utilicom who own BDEC, is set to commence during 2010.
The project also includes the individual retrofitting and conversion of the electric heating systems in 124 residential dwellings to a wet system. This will enable the towers to be served with low carbon and cost effective heat from the district energy scheme, annually saving an estimated 482 tonnes of CO2 a year. This is equivalent to filling 482,000 party balloons or spending 9,640,443 hours on a PC.
