ASSET MANAGEMENT STRATEGY 2018 - 2021 ENHANCING LIVES - Optivo

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ASSET MANAGEMENT STRATEGY 2018 - 2021 ENHANCING LIVES - Optivo
BUILDING HOMES
MAKING PLACES
ENHANCING LIVES

ASSET MANAGEMENT STRATEGY
2018 - 2021

           1
ASSET MANAGEMENT STRATEGY 2018 - 2021 ENHANCING LIVES - Optivo
FOREWORD                                                                                     Introduction and operating environment
Sir Peter Dixon, Chair of the Board
                                                                                             Formed in May 2017 Optivo is a major                        Where we use the term “resident” we are
                                                 here is nothing more worthwhile than
                                                T                                            44,000 home, housing organisation, with a                   referring to tenants, leaseholders and
                                                providing homes for people who need          turnover in excess of £300 million, operating               lessees.
                                                them. For me, having a decent home           in London, the South East and the Midlands.
                                                provides a firm foundation for greater       We work with residents, local authorities,                   inally, where we refer to our costs and the
                                                                                                                                                         F
                                                wellbeing. How well we maintain the          and partners to meet housing need, and to                   drive for value we are including within that
                                                quality of our homes is fundamental          create safe, sustainable communities for                    our approach to both the costs of service
                                                to the fabric of our society. Within         our residents. We also help residents make                  provision but also the costs in use, i.e. the
                                                this Asset Management Strategy, I’m          the most of their lives through jobs, training,             daily cost to our residents of running our
                                                delighted to see the continued focus         financial and digital inclusion. Effective                  homes and, equally important, keeping our
                                                on safety, service quality and efficiency.   asset management underpins so much of                       service charges as low as possible.
                                                Equally important is our commitment          what we do and is essential to achieving our
                                                to affordable warmth, a sustainable          Strategic Plan objectives.                                  Our homes are well-maintained having
                                                environment and employability and                                                                        benefitted from ongoing improvement
                                                training opportunities.                       ithin the body of this document, the term
                                                                                             W                                                           programmes, consistently meeting the
                                                                                             “assets” refers to all our homes and offices,               standards set by the Regulator of Social
                                                                                             including home ownership and commercial                     Housing and its predecessors.
                                                                                             properties such as student accommodation
A word from the Chair and                                                                    and hostels.
Vice Chair of Resident
Strategy Group                                                                               Optivo homes include:                                                       Location of our homes
 orking alongside the team on this
W                                                                                                             London       Kent     Sussex   Midlands     Optivo
strategy has been a real pleasure. A                                                         General                                                                                  7%
truly collaborative effort from start to                                                     Needs
                                                                                                                67%       87%        83%        49%        67%
finish, we’re more than satisfied it will                                                    Retirement                                                                       19%
serve Optivo and its residents well.                                                         Housing             8%         3%       10%        38%         8%
                                                                                             (HOPs)
                                                                                                                                                                                                 50%
                                                                                             Supported           4%         3%         0%        0%         2%
                                                                                             Home
                                                                                             Ownership
                                                                                                                21%         7%         7%       13%        13%                  24%
                                                                                             Commercial*     51.5%          0%     36.8%      11.7%        10%
                                                                                             Total homes     19,753      7,632      9,392      2,706 44,015
Contents
                                                                                                                                                                                      London
                                                                                             *Commercial includes student, key worker, market rented and care homes
Introduction and operating environment                 1                                                                                                                              Kent
Our asset management objectives                        3                                                                                                                              Sussex
Keeping our residents safe with easy access                                                                                                                                           Midlands
to our social impact initiatives                      4
Providing Sector Leading Services                     6
Making the best use of our assets                    10
Summary                                              14
Action Plan - Keeping our residents safe with easy
access to our social impact initiatives              15
Action Plan - Providing Sector Leading Services      16
 Action Plan - Making the best use of our assets     17

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ASSET MANAGEMENT STRATEGY 2018 - 2021 ENHANCING LIVES - Optivo
This is a time of unprecedented challenge       The government still has reservations            Our asset management objectives
and opportunity for housing associations.       about the efficiency of the sector and
The demand for our housing products             sees improvements as essential to release        I n accordance with our corporate                   This means for our residents we will annually
is high with many of our residents facing       additional resources for housebuilding. With      objectives, our Board, residents, staff and         replace:
new financial pressures following the           our maintenance expenditure representing          partner contractors have all helped us to           ¢¢ Over 1800 kitchens and bathrooms
introduction of universal credit and other      such a large area of spend and with the           jointly develop this strategy. The three            ¢¢ New windows and doors to over
welfare reform initiatives. The Government      condition and safety of our resident’s            strategic asset management objectives                   1300 homes
has committed to building one million           homes a key driver of satisfaction, this asset    underpinning this strategy are:                     ¢¢ Heating upgrades to over 1000 homes
homes by 2020 and recognises housing            management strategy will be fundamental           ¢¢ Making the best use of our assets                ¢¢ Over 550 electrical installation
associations will be essential if this target   to our future success.                            ¢¢ Keeping our residents safe with easy                upgrades
is to be met. Fixing the Broken Housing                                                                access to our social impact initiatives        ¢¢ Over 100 full roof replacements
Market, the most recent Housing White           This strategy outlines our approach to asset      ¢¢ Providing Sector Leading Services
Paper, praised the sector’s recent record for   management during a period of integration                                                             By the end of this strategy:
housebuilding and put measures in place to      and transformation. Our 30-year financial        Consistent with our Strategic Plan there             ¢¢ Over 96% of residents will be satisfied
build upon this. From 2021 we’ll be building    plan and reinvestment programme sets out         are three cross-cutting themes running                   with their last repair
1,500 new homes each year. To achieve this      how we’ll invest to make sure our residents      through this strategy - value for money,             ¢¢ Over 98% of residents will be satisfied
it is essential that we find innovative ways    remain satisfied with their homes and our        co-creating with residents and valuing                   with planned improvements carried out
to deliver our asset management services        offices continue to perform well.                our people.                                              to their home
as cost effectively as possible whilst                                                                                                                ¢¢ 100% of our homes and estates
maintaining the excellent levels of service      e’ll sustain our investment and continue
                                                W                                                We will outline what this means and how we               will remain compliant in terms of
we have agreed with our residents.              to work with our residents to define our         will achieve these objectives in the following           satisfactory fire, electrical, asbestos,
                                                service standards. These standards will          pages of this strategy.                                  water, lift, gas and play area safety
                                                make sure we protect our assets, ensure                                                                   certification.
                                                that our homes continue to meet our              Our asset management strategy is                     ¢¢ 100% of our homes will be compliant
                                                regulator’s latest Standard, keep our            supported by a detailed financial plan based             with the latest standards set by our
                                                residents safe, and maintain consistently        on our stock condition data. We review                   Regulator
                                                high levels of resident satisfaction.            our Financial Plan and our investment                ¢¢ 5400 homes will receive kitchen and
                                                                                                 programme each year and we anticipate                    bathroom upgrades
                                                                                                 spending on average annually:                        ¢¢ 3900 homes will be installed with new
                                                                                                 ¢¢ £16.2m for Responsive Repairs                         double glazed windows and modern
                                                                                                     (incl. DLO)                                          front doors
                                                                                                 ¢¢ £5.5m for void works                              ¢¢ 3000 homes will receive heating
                                                                                                 ¢¢ £8.8 m for cyclical works and servicing               upgrades
                                                                                                 ¢¢ £7.6m for compliance/health & safety              ¢¢ 1650 homes will receive electrical
                                                                                                 ¢¢ £15.4m for planned works                              upgrades
                                                                                                 ¢¢ £26.6m for major capital works.                   ¢¢ 300 homes will have their roof covering
                                                                                                                                                          replaced
                                                                                                                                                      ¢¢ We will complete an office rationalisation
                                                                                                                                                          programme
                                                                                                                                                      ¢¢ We will achieve Gold status from
                                                                                                                                                          SHIFT - Sustainable housing index for
                                                                                                                                                          tomorrow.

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ASSET MANAGEMENT STRATEGY 2018 - 2021 ENHANCING LIVES - Optivo
Keeping our residents safe with easy access                                                      Our Health and Safety Forum will monitor all         and viewers. We will review and where
                                                                                                 compliance data each quarter. Our Resident           appropriate improve lighting and install door
to our social impact initiatives                                                                 Strategy Group and Strategic Board will              entry systems.
Keeping our residents safe in their homes is       Listening to and working with residents       receive regular reports to give them                 As well as improving our homes and
top of the agenda for our Board, residents         on safety is crucial and integral to the      oversight.                                           services we can also help to improve lives by
and staff. It’s also top of the Government’s       improvements we’ll make. Glen Cady Chair                                                           creating opportunities. This is underpinned
agenda. To achieve this we will:                   of our Resident Strategy Group supports       Residents will be able to access key data            by our social impact strategy that has been
                                                   this and says:                                about their homes online via MyAccount               designed to transform lives with support
¢¢ W
    ork with resident repair panels to                                                          and the Asset Portal. We will continue to            for:
   develop and implement planned and                                                             work with our residents via our local repairs        ¢¢ Skills, jobs and enterprise
   cyclical standards                                                                            panels to review and introduce additional            ¢¢ Health & wellbeing
                                                                                “Resident
¢¢ Implement a programme of cyclical                                                            measures to ensure our residents feel safe           ¢¢ Improved futures.
                                                                                safety and
    repairs and improvements                                                                     within their homes. For example, delivering
                                                                                security is
¢¢ Integrate our health and safety                                                              an Optivo-wide Resident Safety Awareness             Our asset management investment
                                                                                top of the
    processes, systems and information                                                           programme.                                           decisions, business and supply chain
                                                                                agenda for
¢¢ Provide transparent information to                                                                                                                partnerships are a significant platform to
                                                                                the Resident
    residents on our health and safety                                                            e’ll continue to support our residents to
                                                                                                 W                                                    create opportunities for our residents. In
                                                                                Strategy
    performance                                                                                  live independently in their homes through            every project or job we do there is potential
                                                                                Group.
¢¢ Continue to offer adaptations, in                                                            adaptations and the use of assistive                 to create opportunities. To ensure we
                                                                                Residents
    partnership with local authority                                                             technologies. Old and new technologies               maximise social impact opportunities in
                                                      feel safe and secure when they are
    partners, to enable residents to live                                                        will sit side by side: sensors as well as grab       asset management we will:
                                                      listened to and are able to influence
    independently                                                                                rails can be equally useful in helping a             ¢¢ Apply and deliver social value
                                                      the services they receive. We
¢¢ Apply and deliver social value                                                               resident to maintain their independence.                 obligations in work contracts with
                                                      welcome Optivo’s commitment to
    obligations in work contracts with                                                           We remain committed to providing an                      supply chain partners
                                                      providing sector leading services,
    supply chain partners                                                                        in-house Equipment and Adaptations                   ¢¢ Work with partner businesses to
                                                      strong governance and investment
¢¢ Work with partner businesses to                                                              service, working alongside our Local                     maximise voluntary social value and
                                                      in information technologies. By
    maximise voluntary social value and                                                          Authority partners.                                      giving back opportunities.
                                                      bringing people and data together
    giving back opportunities                         we’ll be able to scrutinise Optivo’s
¢¢ Proactively apply recommendations                                                            Working with our Local Repair Panels and              ogether we’ll create opportunities such as:
                                                                                                                                                      T
                                                      response to residents’ safety
    contained within Dame Judith Hackitt’s                                                       in consultation with our neighbourhood               ¢¢ Skills, training and unpaid work
                                                      concerns.”
    review in response to the Grenfell Tower                                                     teams, we will continue to develop our                   placement
    tragedy.                                                                                     planned modernisation, maintenance and               ¢¢ Paid trainee work placements or access
                                                   We will integrate all of our key compliance   cyclical programmes. We will look at areas in            to apprenticeships
                                                   databases along with our stock data           addition to compliance to ensure our                 ¢¢ Training to help residents to prepare
                                                   into one single database linked to our        residents feel safe and comfortable within               and compete for job roles and work
                                                   key reporting framework by March 2019.        their homes. Reflecting feedback from our                opportunities
                                                   Future transformation will see this system    residents we’ll specifically develop our key         ¢¢ Workforce support including coaching
                                                   developed into a mobile platform, providing   replacement standards such as modern                     and mentoring
                                                   real time reports. Our asset management       composite front doors to incorporate                 ¢¢ Giving back support for Optivo and our
                                                   compliance team will manage and audit         the provision of simple and effective                    Fresh Visions charities.
                                                   all of our key compliance areas. They will    safety measures such as security chains
                                                   ensure procedures are followed and actions
                                                   completed to set timescales and standards.

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ASSET MANAGEMENT STRATEGY 2018 - 2021 ENHANCING LIVES - Optivo
Providing Sector Leading Services
Providing sector leading repairs and                Within our Strategic Plan we have set an       Over the course of this strategy we will           We recognise the need to create both
maintenance services means consistently             ambitious service target (Net Promoter         measure customer satisfaction with our             digital and non-digital communication
delivering high levels of satisfaction while        Score). To achieve this we must ensure         services both in real time (using dedicated        channels for our residents. As more
delivering value for money. To achieve this         residents are happy to promote us and          teams and integrated technologies) and             and more of our residents adopt digital
we will:                                            are satisfied with their homes and repair      approximately one week after a repair              channels, we will collect information to
¢¢ Continue to design and co-create our            service. Reflecting residents’ views and our   or improvement is completed. This dual             assist us in tailoring our services in the
    service with our residents, staff and           core customer offer we’ll:                     approach will help resolve residents issues        future.
    partners                                        ¢¢ Make it easy to use our service            as they arise, preventing frustrations from
¢¢ Embed a service excellence culture in           ¢¢ Do what we say we’ll do                     escalating into formal complaints. And we’ll       40%
    our asset management service                    ¢¢ Be clear about when we’ll do it             also pick up a more considered view of the
¢¢ Train, develop, and value our people            ¢¢ Listen to customers to improve what        complete service received by telephoning           35%

    so they are productive and deliver high             we do                                      our residents a week later; their responses
                                                                                                                                                      30%
    quality, consistent customer service            ¢¢ Ensure staff are respectful and happy to   filtering through to our Net Promoter Score.
¢¢ Implement a dynamic scheduler initially             help.                                      We will continue to develop systems to             25%
    for our London region by December                                                              monitor our live operational performance;
    2018 and by the end of this strategy,           Our Resident Governance structure              enabling us to respond when corrective             20%                40%
    nationally                                      provides an effective way to truly improve     action is required.
                                                                                                                                                      15%
¢¢ Communicate improvement                         our property and asset management                                                                                            26%
    programmes and maintenance                      services. We work as a team with members        e have implemented new responsive
                                                                                                   W                                                  10%
    information to our residents via our            of our Local Repairs Panels, discussing all    repairs standards, developed with our                        18%                       16%
    MyAccount portal. This will enable our          issues and suggestions. We jointly establish   residents, including advice on what our             5%
    residents to view and select a range of         key messages and actions which in turn are     residents should expect and how our
                                                                                                                                                       0%
    choices available to tailor future home         sent up through Resident Strategy Group        operatives should behave within our                            Gen     Gen     Baby    Silent
    improvement works, such as new                  and, if necessary, on to Strategic Board.      residents’ homes. We will review our                            X       Y     Boomer    Gen

    kitchens and bathrooms to their own                                                            planned works and cyclical standards by
    design, layout and colour scheme, by            We’ll be clear about both our own and          July 2018. These new standards will define         This live data, along with new technology,
    December 2018                                   our residents’ repair responsibilities and     the standard of work we’ll deliver and will        will be fundamental to truly transform our
¢¢ Further improve our MyAccount portal            empower them to undertake more routine         advise residents what to expect before,            repair services.
    by April 2020 to view more specific key         home maintenance where appropriate to          during and after the work is completed.
    data in relation to their homes                 help us to focus our resources effectively.
¢¢ Exploit new technology to drive                                                                We have a growing wealth of information
    efficiency and satisfaction. We aim to          Our repairs customer satisfaction              on our services, residents and assets. We
    invest in the latest boiler technology          is consistently over 96% and our               will use this insight to take evidence-based
    to pre-determine when components                improvement programme consistently             decisions. Our residents demographic
    are likely to fail and repair them before       achieves satisfaction levels over 98%.         by age profile is detailed below. During
    they go wrong. We will also continue            During our integration and transformation      this strategy we will use this information
    to research and, where appropriate,             programme and while we seek to reduce          to influence the ways in which we
    implement a range of sensor                     our cost per property, we are committed to     communicate with our residents and to
    technologies to adopt an innovative             maintaining high resident satisfaction.        design our appointment systems and
    and pre-emptive approach to how we’ll                                                          major works programmes. For instance,
    maintain homes in the future.                                                                  our “Generation Y” residents (born 1977 –
                                                                                                   1995) have told us they would prefer more
                                                                                                   online services whilst our Silent Generation
                                                                                                   (born prior to 1945) still prefer direct
                                                                                                   communication.

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ASSET MANAGEMENT STRATEGY 2018 - 2021 ENHANCING LIVES - Optivo
Our new dynamic scheduler for our repair                 Once our systems are integrated, we will         We are are keen to explore the use of                 To enable us to deliver our services more
services will not only provide a more                    expand our research and implement new            assistive technologies to facilitate bespoke          efficiently we will ensure all of our staff are
interactive appointment system, it will also             technologies to deliver a pre-emptive            planned maintenance programmes. One                   trained appropriately. We are aware our
optimise the most suitable technician in                 service residents are proud of and would         such example could be the use of drones               asset management team and contractors
terms of location and skill-set to attend                recommend to others. We are currently            to identify gutters which need clearing               work in our residents’ homes every day
and complete repairs within our agreed                   exploring the benefits of using 3D cameras       regularly because of their proximity to               and are a key part of the public face of
timescales. This system will also ensure                 to create virtual reality tours of empty         trees. We will do this in the third year of the       Optivo. Our contract and performance
all of our technicians have the correct                  properties and to validate the condition         strategy.                                             management frameworks will ensure all our
equipment and materials to complete the                  of our homes at the point of letting. The                                                              staff and contractors promote our CORE
reported repair, ideally during their first visit.       ability for our prospective residents to         Our Board and residents have asked us to              values and service standards. We will embed
The dynamic scheduler incorporates a Job                 view available homes online will be more         investigate the number of homes which are             our service excellence culture, delivering a
Jeopardy Notification System escalating                  convenient and should help us to improve         digitally-enabled. By the end of this strategy,       cultural immersion programme from April
the need for Corrective Action to our key                our lettings time. In addition, validating the   we will have researched and developed                 2018 to March 2021.
officers via our mobile platform. Overall                condition of our homes prior to letting will     a plan to ensure as many of our homes
performance is measured separately by our                strengthen our ability to recharge residents     have a secure network to facilitate the safe            Our values
Customer Service Centre.                                 who damage or neglect their homes.               collection of data from smart thermostats,
                                                         We are already reviewing the use of smart        boilers etc…
                                                         boilers to deliver real-time performance
                                                         information and to pre-empt component
   A trial of a smart thermostat is
                                                         failure. In the future we will look at bar-
   underway. The trial is examining
                                                         coding to speed up stock replenishment
   whether the device can:
                                                         and the benefits of linking a coding system
   ¢¢ Monitor boiler performance                         to each of our homes and key components.
   ¢¢ Reduce residents’ energy bills                     Such a system could enable our residents to
   ¢¢ Address high humidity levels – a                  quickly access our repairs portal by simply
       key cause of condensation and                     using a smart device to identify the code
       mould.                                            on any identified component within their
                                                         home.

                                                         Extending mobile working will enable staff
                                                         to work more efficiently too. Currently in
                                                         use across our estate services, health and
                                                         safety compliance and voids teams, by
                                                         December 2019 we plan to equip all our
                                                         surveyors and technicians with a mobile
                                                         device able to access all of our key systems.
                                                         This will allow them to access property
                                                         repair history and to order a repair remotely;
                                                         not just more efficient but a milestone in
                                                         transforming our service offer too.

                                                         

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ASSET MANAGEMENT STRATEGY 2018 - 2021 ENHANCING LIVES - Optivo
Making the best use of our assets
 ur asset management strategy is
O                                                    ¢¢ R
                                                         eview the performance and effective
supported by our 30-year financial plan and             use of our office spaces, ensuring they
maintenance standards, setting out what,                support our service delivery plans, our
when and how we’ll invest in our homes.                 staff’s needs, offer value for money and
Maximising value for money is implicit in               support our energy and environmental
every decision we make and everything                   targets
we do. We will be transparent and able to            ¢¢ Procure well using a blend of direct
demonstrate to ourselves, our residents,                 service teams and external providers
regulators and future partners we are                ¢¢ Invest in improving the energy efficiency
driving and delivering efficiency across all             of our homes
of our asset management services. Our                ¢¢ Achieve Sustainable Homes (SHIFT)
strategy is to balance cost versus quality               Gold standard
                                                                                                     The accuracy of our stock condition data
and our residents’ expectations. We’ll aim to        ¢¢ Build new homes where we can provide
                                                                                                     is essential to efficiently inform our future
reduce our costs per unit while maintaining              services effectively and efficiently
                                                                                                     planned investment programmes. Initially
high levels of customer satisfaction.                ¢¢ Fully implement our Soft Landings*
                                                                                                     we will re-inspect approximately 20% of our
To achieve this we’ll:                                   initiatives to learn and continually
                                                                                                     homes each year to maintain good quality
¢¢ Work with our residents to review                    improve the standard and performance
                                                                                                     data for this purpose. This percentage will          
     key materials, standards and choices                of our new homes
                                                                                                     reduce as we become more confident in the
     offered within our improvement                  ¢¢ Implement a combined compliance
                                                                                                     quality of our data to adequately evaluate           A key aspect to improving the overall
     programs                                            database and monitoring system linked
                                                                                                     the performance of our homes.                        performance of our portfolio is using asset
¢¢ Use intuitive, real time and integrated              to our corporate reporting tool
                                                                                                                                                          data to make intelligence-led decisions.
     technology to drive improvement and             ¢¢ Create a self-auditing compliance
                                                                                                     We will ensure that our asset management             The implementation of our Active Asset
     efficiency initiatives                              support team
                                                                                                     resources are sufficient to meet our current         Management tool, planned for June 2019,
¢¢ Continually improve our stock condition          ¢¢ Deliver a common approach to each
                                                                                                     and future residents’ housing needs in               will facilitate a new strategic approach
     data to inform our future investment                compliance area with a specific
                                                                                                     terms of the type, location and standard of          to asset management. By analysing the
     plans                                               Management and Operating Plan.
                                                                                                     their homes. Our homes are in high demand            performance of our homes we will spend
¢¢ Incorporate Building Information
                                                                                                     and we’ll work hard to make sure this                our money wisely and achieve a return
     Modelling (BIM) data into our systems to        The integration of our existing compliance
                                                                                                     remains so in the future. Together with our          on every investment. We will monitor key
     enable us to obtain valuable insight and        databases is underway and is our top
                                                                                                     residents we will understand their priorities        drivers such as:
     tools to more efficiently plan, design,         priority for the first year of this strategy.
                                                                                                     for future investment and encourage
     construct, and manage our homes in              One common system will enable us to
                                                                                                     them to actively help us to transform our            ¢¢ Internal Rate of Return (IRR) for each of
     the future                                      effectively monitor and manage all of our
                                                                                                     services by attending and contributing at               our homes
¢¢ Continually evaluate the demand, use             key compliance risks together in one system
                                                                                                     our procurement and testing panels and               ¢¢ Net Present Value (NPV) for each of our
     and financial performance of our homes          assisted with live reports provided by our
                                                                                                     contractor performance review meetings.                 homes
     to strategically optimise the use of our        corporate reporting tool. This information
                                                                                                                                                          ¢¢ Average number of visits undertaken to
     assets and to support our disposals             will be available to our front line services
                                                                                                     When we build new homes we’ll make                      our homes per annum
     policy via a detailed option appraisal          via our customer services database and
                                                                                                     sure these are in places where we can                ¢¢ Actual number of visits to each of our
     process                                         our mobile platforms. An automated live
                                                                                                     deliver services effectively and efficiently.           homes
                                                     feed will also update our Health and Safety
                                                                                                     Our asset management team will work                  ¢¢ Void Rates
                                                     Scorecard in real time to consistently
                                                                                                     with our Development, Operations and                 ¢¢ Maintenance Costs per Unit
                                                     provide a live picture of performance.
                                                                                                     Commercial Services teams to inform our              ¢¢ Rent Loss
                                                                                                     future development strategy. For all our new
                                                                                                     developments, we will continue to roll out
                                                                                                     Soft Landings.
* Soft Landings is a client/resident liaison initiative designed to improve the quality
   of our new homes at handover.

                                                10                                                                                                   11
Procuring new contracts or expanding                  Lastly it is vital our offices continue to
                                                                                                      our direct labour services affords us                 perform well and meet our business needs.
                                                                                                      an opportunity to drive efficiency. In                During the first year of this strategy, we
                                                                                                      September 2017 we started a new repairs               will carry out a rationalisation review and
                                                                                                      and maintenance contract within East                  assessment of their location, condition,
                                                                                                      Sussex using our Alliance Framework. We               energy efficiency and suitability. This will
                                                                                                      expect to utilise this framework and to               ensure our office infrastructure benefits
                                                                                                      commence a new contract within our Kent               both our staff and residents and supports
                                                                                                      region by April 2019. Following a Value               us in managing our homes into the future.
                                                                                                      for Money review of our Direct Labour
                                                                                                      Organisation (DLO) we plan to expand the
                                                                                                      service across our London stock, providing
                                                                                                      a great level of service at reduced cost
                                                     All homes will be vacant at the point of sale    from September 2018 onwards. As our
                                                     and will be at a price not less than the value   main concentration (22,070 owned and
                                                     supported by a RICs qualified valuer.            managed) of our homes are in our London
                                                                                                      region, savings will be significant: in excess
                                                     On occasions, despite a property meeting         of £1.7 million per annum.
                                                     this criteria, we may decide not to dispose
                                                     of it if there is a potential advantage to our   Environmental sustainability is also part
                                                     continued ownership.                             of our wider asset management agenda.
The data collected will be used to evaluate                                                           Our aim is to achieve SHIFT Gold award by
the future viability of our homes or groups                                                           October 2020. SHIFT is the sustainability
of homes. Where potential poor financial                                                              standard for the housing sector and
performance is identified, a detailed                                                                 is backed by Government. The SHIFT
Options Appraisal will be carried out in line                                                         assessment measures how we are doing
with our Disposals Policy, to review and                                                              against over 50 environmental criteria,
recommend the most viable option to                                                                   including CO2 emissions, water use, landfill
implement, which may include remodelling,                                                             waste and response to climate change
tenure change or disposal.                                                                            covering every aspect of our work. A new
                                                                                                      Energy and Sustainability strategy for
We’ll consider disposal of our homes when                                                             Optivo (2018 – 21) will set out an ambitious
they become void, where they are not                                                                  programme to reduce our impact on the
located within our core operational areas                                                             environment, reduce resident utility costs
as defined within our growth strategy, or                                                             and deliver a more efficient organisation.
where they are difficult to let or require
a high level of future investment which                                                               The strategy will include commitments
is disproportionate to anticipated rental                                                             to:
income.                                                                                               ¢¢ Provide energy performance and
                                                                                                          energy advice
Where disposal is recommended for a                                                                   ¢¢ Improve waste management
home or a group of homes, and the home(s)                                                             ¢¢ Adapt homes to climate change
meet one or more of our Disposals Criteria,                                                           ¢¢ Influence our suppliers
we will act in accordance with government                                                             ¢¢ Manage our operations in a sustainable
regulations as well as our own Operating                                                                  way
Regulations and Delegated Authorities.                                                                ¢¢ Embed a commitment to sustainability
                                                                                                          within everything we do as a team

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Summary
 ffective asset management is a key
E                                                transformation period. This strategy will
component to our ability to provide and          take us to March 2021 by which time we
maintain great homes and excellent               well be taking a more predictive approach
services. It determines whether our              to asset management; we will have ensured
residents are likely to recommend us and         residents continue to be safe in their
is pivotal to improving efficiency in our        homes, and we will have sustained high
business. We believe residents can help          customer satisfaction levels while improving
us to achieve our asset management               efficiency.
goals and so they are essential to
delivering success. We also believe asset        All of the actions contained in this strategy
management is more than just bricks and          can be found in the Action Plan that follows
mortar and by using our influence, we can        in Appendix One under the relevant themed
create jobs and training opportunities           heading.
to enhance lives. As a newly merged
organisation we are in an integration and

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Action Plan - Keeping our residents safe with easy access to our social impact initiatives
                                                                                          2018-19   2019-20   2020 -21

Work with resident repair panels to develop and implement planned
and cyclical standards

Implement programme of cyclical repairs and improvements

Integrate our health and safety processes, systems and information

Provide transparent information to residents on our health and safety performance

Offer adaptations, in partnership with local authority partners, to enable residents to
live independently

Apply and deliver social value obligations in work contracts with supply chain partners

Work with partner businesses to maximise voluntary social value and giving back
opportunities

Proactively apply recommendations contained within Dame Judith Hackitt’s review
Action Plan - Providing Sector Leading Services
                                                                                           2018-19   2019-20   2020-21

Design and co-create our service with residents, staff and partners

Embed a service excellence culture across our asset management service, including
works to deliver our Planning to be Brilliant and 20/20 Programmes

Train, develop, and value our people so they are productive and deliver high quality,
consistent customer service (including delivery of Mary Gober Service Excellence and
Park Simm Customer Friendly writing courses)

Implement a dynamic scheduler called Service Connect initially into our London region

Improve our My Account portal, so our residents are digital by choice. Make it easier to
use and allow self-service. Offer more specific key data in relation to residents homes

Communicate improvement programmes to residents via the customer portal; enable
selection of resident choices for planned improvement choices, starting with kitchens
and bathrooms

Exploit new technology to drive efficiency and satisfaction.
Action Plan - Making the best use of our assets
                                                                                         2018-19   2019-20   2020-21
Implement programmes of planned improvements and cyclical works

Work with residents to design and procure services

Work with our residents to review key materials, standards and choices of our
improvement programs
Work with our development team to agree material specfications and standards;
fully implement Soft Landings
Implement an active asset management tool to help
us to identify homes for option appraisal

Strategically manage our assets to ensure they are performing well financially

Continually improve our stock information to inform investment plans; incorporate BIM
pilot data into our systems

Use intuitive, real time and integrated technology to drive improvement and efficiency

Procure well using a blend of direct service teams and external providers

Invest in the energy efficiency and energy performance of our homes

Implement a combined compliance database and monitoring system linked to our
corporate reporting tool

Create a self-auditing compliance support team

Deliver a common approach to each compliance area with a specific Management and
Operating Plan

Review the performance and effective use of our office spaces, ensuring they support
our service delivery plans, our staffs needs, offer value for money and support our
energy and environmental targets.
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