East Region News
Barista training at Wybourn Works
Our Employability Programme, Wybourn Works, has continued to go from strength to strength in recent months. The project, which has made use of £200,000 funding from the DWP and Learning and Work Institute’s ‘Jobs Plus’ programme, has taken a unique and rounded approach to help boost skills in the community and open doors to new avenues of employment for our customers.
The team listened to members of the community to best meet their needs, and after speaking with customers who had signed up to the programme, found that many were interested in training to be a barista. Rising to the task, Jo Miller, our Employability Coach, made connections with the Sheffield-based Caféology, who were open to supporting Wybourn Works through providing access to their barista training course.
A mixture of colleagues and customers attended the barista training course, which opened their eyes to the world of coffee. Attendees learned everything from the basics of espresso extraction to the intricacies of latte art and were given the A-Z on the variety of coffee beans, and how different brewing methods can affect the flavour. The overall experience was enriching for everyone involved, and attendees also got to learn the history of coffee, where the organisation got their coffee from, and took a tour of their roastery.
Jo Miller commented on the day:
“The trainer was incredibly knowledgeable and passionate, sharing tips and tricks that only a seasoned barista would know. By the end of the training, we all felt confident in the use of a barista machine and more confident in the skills we had learnt.”
Stuart Broomhead, National Account Manager at Caféology, commented:
“Mastering milk foaming, espresso extraction, coffee production, and latte art is the perfect foundation for any aspiring barista. These essential skills not only elevate the coffee experience but also empower individuals to create high-quality drinks while building a strong, professional career in the coffee industry.
“It was a privilege to Support Jo and the group from Great Places; they were wonderfully engaging and full of interest. We love to work with and support groups like this and to give back to our community a little more. Arranging the training with Great Places was very easy and I hope the group had as much fun as I did!”
Visiting St. Vincent’s Furniture Project
We recently paid a visit to one of our partners, St Vincent’s Furniture Project, who we’ve supported through our Neighbourhood Initiatives Fund, to continue their fantastic work with providing good-quality donated furniture to those in need. Their warehouse is situated on Queens Road, Sheffield and their manager, Tracy, gave us a tour of the place and explained the good work that goes on there.
The warehouse is organised between large rooms for storing the furniture, and rooms for sorting through and storing household items. It’s important all their furniture is of a decent quality, as Tracy explained, and so they only accept items from households without pets or smokers. It was clear that a high level of care and attention is given to sorting through these donations, so that they can respond to people’s specific needs. For instance, if a referral needs kitchen items for their family of four, a decent set of four plates, knives and forks can be prepared for them. This person-centred approach runs through everything they do.
The project operates with a mixture of full-time and part-time staff who are in charge of administration, logistics and driving the delivery vans, and a range of volunteers who work to sort the donations throughout the week. Whilst primarily a furniture store, they also provide opportunities to volunteers from all walks of life, whether for helping a good cause, or as a way of gaining new skills.
Volunteers include individuals from the community, businesses looking to give something back, and those on probation undertaking community service. As well as this, St Vincent’s has partnered with Sheffield College and the Guinness Partnership to provide work experience for young people, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Young volunteers make use of their workshop, which paints or repairs items that can be fit for donation with a little refresh.
Since the pandemic, the furniture store has also partnered with ‘Fairshare’. They collect food waste from supermarkets and food outlets, and bring food deliveries to the warehouse each Monday. The food is then sold at a low price by St Vincent’s, converting their ground floor into a food stall on Tuesdays. This fantastic support, which goes beyond their remit as a furniture project, has continued post-pandemic, and this is greatly appreciated by the community.
Tracy and the rest of the team work hard each day to keep the project going and the delivery vans running. Having worked in the charity sector for 25 years, Tracy explained that she loved to ‘work for a cause’ – and the passion of her and everyone at the warehouse was clear to see.
Championing collaborative working
Since 2023, we’ve worked with the Guinness Partnership on their employability programme, ‘Women in DIY’, and recently, our Employability Coach, Jo Miller, picked up the Collaborative Working award, as part of the Efficiency East Midlands Building Communities Awards.
Women in DIY consists of week-long courses aimed at supporting women who are unemployed or who have a low-income to develop skills in the construction industry, such as tiling, painting, woodwork and bricklaying. Jo Miller took the lead for Sheffield, working hard to sign up 17 suitable participants for the course based at The Sheffield College.
For many, the course was truly life-changing, helping to build women’s confidence and prove to them that they can grow and develop. All 17 participants completed the course and were gifted a high-end tool kit to take with them on their professional journeys. Some have now gone on to take their Health and Safety Level 1 and gain their CSCS card to kickstart their career in construction.
For her hard work in making this happen, Jo (pictured third in from the left) was nominated for the award by Guinness Partnership and was up against some tough competition! Other nominees included Wolverhampton Homes, United Living and Fortem Solutions & Together Housing Group. Receiving the email nomination was ‘a wonderful feeling’ and so Jo was beyond excited to attend the ceremony with the other nominees in Derby.
The night was one to remember, hosted by Paul Evers and in support of two fantastic charities. The first was the Ben Kinsella Foundation, set up to tackle knife crime in honour of the young Ben Kinsella, who worked hard for this cause and whose life was tragically cut short. The second was Heart Safe, a charity which also tackles knife crime by providing life-saving bleed kits in communities.
When it was announced that she had won, Jo was, of course, over the moon:
“Upon receiving the award, we felt immensely proud and excited that all our hard work had been recognised in this way, especially for the collaboration award as working in partnership is very important and key to building excellent relationships. It goes to show what can be achieved by working together as a team. The awards ceremony was amazing with many fantastic companies winning other awards. Our award was the last one of the night so it felt like the icing on the cake for us. It was really good to be able to network and gain some valuable contacts for future collaboration and to be able to celebrate together.”
A huge congratulations to Jo!
East Repairs Update
Your latest repairs update from your Head of Property Services
From January to March (quarter four), the East Region Repairs Team has maintained levels of customer satisfaction, while being able to increase the number of repairs completed and improve the turnaround time for empty homes. This increase in demand has impacted timeliness targets and first-time fixes, but as we move into the next quarter, we will continue to monitor demand and capacity to ensure we can continue to deliver a quality service.
How we’re doing at a glance in quarter four:
- Customer satisfaction: The average customer satisfaction rating for the region was 8.7 out of 10.
- Repairs completed: 1,932 repairs were completed to enhance customers’ homes within our in-house service.
- Timeliness: 77.7% of repairs were completed within target timeframes.
- First-visit fixes: 84% of all repairs were successfully completed during the first visit.
- Empty properties: 48 empty properties were prepared for new customers, with an average turnaround time of 22.4 days.
- Disrepair cases: At the end of the quarter, 4 disrepair cases were still active.
*These surveys are in real time – upon completion of repairs – and different to the TSM surveys.
Repairs review
During last year’s Corporate Priorities consultation with customers, you told us that having a really good Repairs Service was one of your top priorities. Over the last six months, we’ve been carrying out a review of the service and surveyed customers on Our Voice to understand what was most important to you when it comes to repairs.
We’d like to thank everyone who shared their views with us! We have been using this feedback, alongside other review findings, to look at how we can improve and shape our future Repairs Service. We have identified key areas for improvement and we’re currently setting out how we can bring these improvements into action for customers. We’ll continue to keep you updated through our regular eNews bulletins and the Great Places website.
As always, we are continuing to work with our customer service teams to actively seek your feedback around how to improve our services.
Thanks for your continued support and remember if you have any questions or need any further support you can contact us via Chatbot, on our website or email: customerhub@greatplaces.org.uk.
Adam Littlewood Head of Property Services, East Region