Improving our homes

Improving our homes

Since April 2021, we have delivered just over £18m of improvements to over 2200 homes through our investment programme. These included nearly 700 kitchens and bathrooms, over 800 windows and doors and over 650 boilers and heating systems.

Bowland House case study

We commenced work on our £3.4m flagship refurbishment project to transform Bowland House, a landmark 1960s tower block in Blackburn town centre. The project will see the whole of the external fabric refurbished, including new windows with enclosed winter garden balconies and new insulation and cladding, which will bring apartments up to modern energy efficiency standards.

It will also include substantial redecoration and installation upgrades to communal areas of the building, such as new floor coverings, a sprinkler system, new drinking water supply system and new hot water cylinders to improve the water pressure, to ensure that all apartments meet the latest fire and building safety standards. The tower block will also have the latest broadband capability installed to promote digital inclusion to all our customers.

One of our most dedicated customers Nicola Campbell has been recruited as a Covid-19 cleaner at Bowland. Nicola is a mum of four and has lived in a Great Places property in Blackburn for over 20 years. She is loving her role and has quickly become an essential and popular member of the team.

It was important to Great Places to involve customers before, during and after the works at Bowland House. Consultation was done in a range of ways at each stage, with customers being given the chance to see and discuss plans before the works and to understand how the works would affect them. Customers also had regular opportunities to feedback about how the works had gone in their own homes, with interviews and surveys. At the time of writing the works to the outside of Bowland House are still ongoing, but regular communication means that residents know what will happen and when. They have appreciated the chance to discuss the works with the contractor directly and the neighbourhood teams. Customers have said:

“What they've done is brilliant it's made a difference to the house. It's warmer. A lot warmer. But I only had one complaint about the whole lot of it... and that was the dust.”

“100% to the workers, loads of things going on at once, all coordinated very well”

and “Mel, the building manager for Casey's; she's been really great. She's been really easy to get hold of, really communicative about the schedule, what's happening next, and really quick to deal with any issues we have had. So that's fantastic”.

Satisfaction scores for the works done in customers’ own homes gave an average of 9.15 out of 10 and we’ll be checking in again with customers early in the new year to find how the final stages of the work to the outside and communal areas of the building have gone.