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Drum Housing Association Scoops Prestigious 'Green' National Housing Award
Tuesday, 05 June 2007 09:44
Thursday 24 May - Drum Housing Association, who have been described by award judges as a ' hotbed of innovation', is celebrating the news that it has scooped a prestigious national housing award.
Announced today at a special awards ceremony in Central London, Drum has fought off tough competition from over 100 entries to win the Housing Corporation Gold Award in the Evironmental Sustainability category.
Now in its second year, the Corporation's popular competition for housing associations has two new themes: Empowering Communities and Environmental Sustainability. Each winning association will receive a prize of 50,000 to help fund their involvement in a year long programme of knowledge dissemination.
The award is in recognition for Drum's sustainability strategy that has helped shrink their carbon footprint by 178 tonnes a year significantly reducing the environmental impact of its existing and new homes.
Drum, part of the Radian Group, manages 4,450 homes in East Hampshire, Portsmouth and West Sussex, notched up a world first by using a solar/ambient heating system in The Evergreens scheme in Whitehill. It was also first to use domestic ground source heat pumps in Hampshire, in homes in the Kingsley area.
The association has also improved central heating and insulation in 95% of its existing homes during the past ten years, targetting the most polluting homes where solid fuel systems are replaced with renewables in some cases.
Drum is developing methods of reducing carbon emissions in existing housing with the Energy Saving Trust through one of a long list of partnerships it has established to deliver its sustainability strategy.
Paul Ciniglio, Drum's Sustainability and Innovation Manager said: "We are particularly pleased to have been involved with Generation Homes Partnership project. We have been able to reduce household carbon dioxide emissions from 10 tonnes to 2.5 tonnes per year through the installation of a package of renewables and other energy efficiency measures in 6 homes. Not only is this good for the environment, it will also dramatically cut residents running costs."
Sir Duncan Michael, Chairman of the judging panel said: "Congratulations to Drum Housing Association in securing this prestigious national award for its environmental work. Drum's fantastic and forward thinking work in improving sustainability really impressed the judges and has made it a worthy winner."
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Notes to editors:
A full list of winners and finalists of Gold 2007 are as follows:
Environment:
Winners- Drum Housing Association
- Greenoak Housing Association
- Places for People Housing Group
Finalists
- Gallions Housing Association
- Coastline Housing Ltd
- Flagship Housing Group Limited
Communities:
Winners- London & Quadrant with Metropolitan Housing Trust
- Poplar HARCA
- Willow Park Housing Trust
- Endeavour Housing Association
- Look Ahead Housing and Care
- Trent & Dove Housing
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The Judging panel is as follows:
Chair of judges
- Sir Duncan Michael, Housing Corporation Board
- Lord Richard Best, President of Local Government Association
- David Orr, National Housing Federation
- Roy Irwin, Audit Commission
- Professor David Strong, Building Research Establishment
- Shaukat Moledina, Deputy Chairman, Housing Corporation
- Donald Hoodless, Housing Corporation Board
- Julie Fawcett, Housing Corporation Board
- Empowering communities - Rona Nicholson
- Environmental Sustainability - Andrew Eagles
- Empowering communities - Helen Cope and Patrick Harkness
- Environmental Sustainability - Chris Watts and Alan Pithers
Michael's New Start at RKdia
Friday, 11 August 2006 13:44
pdf version of this story
March 2006
Michael finds Opportunities at RKdia
Michael Gregory was 17 when he left home and moved into a Bed &
Breakfast. His parents were divorced; his education was blighted by
learning difficulties and his prospects looked bleak. But in November
2004 Michael was given a flat at RKdia, the youth housing scheme
launched by Drum Housing Association in partnership with East Hampshire
District Council. A year later he has been entered for a community
award for voluntary work and has been taken on, as a trainee, by Drums
own Maintenance and Landscape team.
Michael has found new opportunities through RKdia; ғGetting my flat
at RKdia was one of the best things that has ever happened to me. It
has made a huge difference having my own space, in a safe environment
with support whenever I have needed it.
On arriving at RKdia Michael embarked on a ten-point plan to help
him develop skills for life. The course included managing bills,
budgeting, looking after the home, job applications and interview
skills. His adaptation was spectacular.
Project Manager Chris Adams was impressed with Michael; ԓHe settled in very
quickly,
Chris explains, ԓNothing seemed to be too much trouble for him and he
mastered the ten point plan immediately. Michael started to help us out
regularly with community functions and we soon started to rely on his
support.
In January 2006 Michael was entered for a Volunteer Award from East Hampshire District Council. Soon after this, Chris recommended he went onto the GovernmentԒs New Deal programme and proposed him as a trainee for Drums own Maintenance and Landscape team.
ғIt became glaringly obvious that he would be an asset to any team.
Our grounds maintenance department wasted no time in snapping him up.
RKdia is an award winning operation that has helped hundreds of
young people like Michael to prepare themselves for employment and life
in the modern world. The operation relies on generating income from
their on-site cafԩ, catering services, conference and meeting
facilities to maintain their youth housing service.
Michael Gregory with the Drum Housing Association Grounds Maintenance van
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Alton Tenancy Training
Friday, 11 August 2006 13:44
pdf version of this story
July 2006
Top Tips for Tenants in Alton
18th July 2006
Drum Housing Association (Drum) brought an innovative new training programme to help residents thrive in their homes to Alton. The course included tips on repairs and maintenance, money management, handling neighbour disputes and safety in the home. Residents were invited to attend the five week course, which was made up of five two-hour modules.
Celebrating the end of the course:
(l-r)
Jacci Price, Drum, Colin, Alex trainer from Stonham, Andrew, Ed Till,
Housing Advisor, East Hants District Council, Carol, trainer from
Stonham, and Paul
Colin, one of those who attended wrote saying how much he appreciated the training, how he had learnt a lot and generally enjoyed it.
The idea behind the voluntary training is to help people develop life skills that will better enable them to maintain long-term tenancies. The scheme is funded by Drum and East Hampshire District Council and delivered by Stonham.
By covering many of the issues, which are involved in a tenancy, the organisations involved hope to reduce homelessness and improve peoples ability to maintain their tenancy. One of the main reasons that people lose their tenancies is because of poor money management, and Drum has been looking at a number of ways to support people before they get into financial difficulties.
The training was held locally at the Alton Community Centre and future courses are planned throughout the District, depending where need is identified.
"Everyone seemed to enjoy the course", explains Jacci Price, Drum Housing Manager, "It was a relaxed environment and people were encouraged to share views and ideas".
Jacci, a key person behind the development of this course, points out how apprehensive some can be when first starting a tenancy alone, "We forget how challenging it can be to move into your own home. This course gives reassurance and guidance, and we are very pleased with the response".
Colin, who has been allocated accommodation in Ropley, finishes by saying "my thanks to the team for a job well done".
Beko fridge fire risk
Thursday, 21 July 2011 02:03
The London Fire Brigade have issued an urgent warning of a fire risk to certain Beko fridge freezer models. They say that the fridge freezers have been responsible for 20 fires since 2008.
Beko are sending out engineers to fix the part that is causing the fire risk free of charge. It is a modification that will take around 30minutes. There are over 500,000 fridge freezers that might have the fault and Beko are asking anyone who has an affected model to get in contact with them straight away.
To find out if your model is affected you can type your fridge freezers model and serial number into the Beko website:
https://refsafety.beko.co.uk/
There is also a really helpful Q&A on the Which? Website
http://www.which.co.uk/home-and-garden/kitchen/guides/beko-fridge-freezer-fire-risk-qanda/
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