Chief Executive's Blog - Customers Into Colleagues
Matthew Fox: Viridian Housing
Last Thursday, eight of us from Viridian, including the Executive Team, visited the Bromford Group in Wolverhampton.
This blog cannot summarise all the lessons we came away with but here's a flavour:
To read the full blog click here.
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David Orr's Blog - Fuel Poverty: It's Time to Take Action
Chief Executive: National Housing Federation
We still have about a million households in social housing officially in fuel poverty. The investment needed in retrofitting is not forthcoming from the banks in any cost effective way.
This has to change. Reducing energy consumption and keeping people warm is easily in our grasp. And there is money around. There is Green Deal - although we need a Green Deal that is constructed to meet the needs of rented homes as well as owner occupied.
There's the £200 million available for early adopters. We could use that as a challenge fund to stimulate creative thinking about delivering outcomes rather than inputs and 'golden rules'.
There's the £1.3 billion Energy Company Obligation which could be creatively invested.
There is potential income from carbon trading, and what better use could that money be put to? There is EU funding.
We could save lots of money presently going to young people who are unemployed and create real apprenticeships and real jobs.
This all feels to me like a conundrum we are very close to resolving. We need to - and we need to do it soon.
To read the full blog click here.
The Federation of Master Builders (FMB), the UK's largest trade association in the building industry, has appointed Brian Berry as its new Chief Executive.
Derek Bostock, National President of the FMB said:
"I'm delighted that Brian Berry has agreed to take on the role as the FMB's first Chief Executive.
"Brian Berry has an excellent track record in the construction sector, having worked for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and more recently as Director of External Affairs at the FMB.
"His achievements speak for themselves, having quadrupled the FMB's media profile and ensuring that the FMB is listened to seriously within Government, the media, and the built environment sector generally."
[Link2] Social housing, social media...and Shapps
In his article for 24dash.com, Boris Worrall, Director of Strategy & External Affairs at Orbit, examines the social networking skills of Housing Minister Grant Shapps.
The article provides a personal perspective on why this approach is so successful and what the housing sector can learn from it.