Latest News & Events

Latest News & Events

St Vincent’s Cosy Home - Tackling Fuel Poverty in Bolton

St Vincent’s Housing is launching a fully retrofitted property in Farnworth, which has been kitted out with every feasible green initiative and energy saving gadget on the market.  An example of the type of ground breaking technology included in the Cosy Home, which will demonstrate how you can slash soaring fuel bills and tackle fuel poverty, is:- 

And this is just a sample of the many ground-breaking green initiatives at the Cosy Home. 

With funding from the Coal Field Regeneration Trust, St Vincent’s has also employed an Apprentice, Daniel Njoroge, who is from the local area, to give tours to both the general public and other housing providers who may want to retrofit their own housing stock with some of the initiatives on show.  Daniel will work alongside a team of 30 Volunteers from the Farnworth area who have been trained to give door step energy advice to people in Farnworth on how to cut their fuel bills. 

We have developed the Cosy Home project in conjunction with our partners, Bolton Community Homes and Bolton at Home.  The project has been made possible with funding from the Local Energy Action Fund (LEAF), the Coal Field Regeneration Trust, and donations from many suppliers who specialise in green technologies. 

Peter Smith, Chief Executive of St Vincent’s Housing Association said “There have been other similar initiatives to this, but I think where this is different is we have tried to show that you can retrofit a very typical traditional style property, the type which is found up and down the streets of the UK, and do it without spending a small fortune.  Obviously, some features are more expensive, for example the Photo-voltaic panels, but other features, such as the Voltage Optimisation Panel can be installed for under £200, and are more affordable for the average pocket.  The Cosy Home will be a learning and training facility for local people to come along and find out everything they need to know about energy efficiency and breaking out of fuel poverty”

Cllr Noel Spencer, Chair of Bolton at Home, said: “We’re delighted with what’s been achieved here and encourage anyone interested in saving energy and money to come and see the eco features for themselves.”

The Cosy Home will be officially opened by Councillor Noel Spencer at 12 noon on 18th May. 

Author - Sarah Hodgkinson | Added on 15/05/2012

St Vincent's Promotes Deaf Awareness Week

We are promoting Deaf Awareness week (7th May – 13th May) at St Vincent’s, posting fingerspell alphabet and awareness posters in all our offices.  Some of our front-line members of staff are also being trained on Deaf Awareness.  The aim is to improve understanding of the different types of deafness by highlighting the many different methods of communication used by deaf, deafened, deafblind and hard of hearing people, such as sign language and lip reading.

Author - Ruth Coglan | Added on 09/05/2012

St Vincent's shortlisted for a National Housing Award

We are so pleased to have been shortlisted for the Chartered Institute of Housing Sustainable Landlord of the Year award for our Fit for the Future Campaign.

The Campaign was aimed at delivering useful money saving energy advice to all our customers, and we managed to speak face-to-face to over 71%.

We have also installed photo-voltaics to over 600 of our homes, providing low cost energy during the day for many customers, and helping tackle fuel poverty.  This is alongside a large programme to install LED lighting in communal areas.

The Campaign resulted in us carrying out a large number of energy audits at customers' homes, making sure they are using their appliances and heating controls correctly.

Since the campaign we have had over 200 tenants volunteering to be community champions, helping deliver energy advice in their own area to other tenants.

The award will recognise not just the Fit for the Future Campaign, but the massive amount of pioneering work St Vincent's has done, and continues to do, in this area.

Author - Sarah Hodgkinson | Added on 01/05/2012

Research with our Customers into Mobile Phone Usage shows Smart Phones are on the increase

Part of St Vincent's Communications Strategy for this year is to increase access to services from new forms of digital communication, such as Digital TV and Smart Phones.

We've carried out some research into how many of our customers have a Smart Phone compared to a traditional mobile phone......and the results are in.  Of the 400 customers that responded to the text survey we carried out:-

This shows that the world of communication is changing rapidly and, as a sector, housing associations must move with it.  We will be doing more surveys over the coming months and will publish the results here.

Author - Sarah Hodgkinson | Added on 20/03/2012

St Vincent's Director of Operations, Charlie Norman, goes back to the floor

When Charlie got the chance to go 'back to the floor' at St Vincent's, she was only too happy to get back to the basics of housing management and test out the services being received by customers.

Charlie's days are often a busy schedule of meetings with Managers and staff and partners in the areas we work.  However, taking up the role of receptionist gave her the opportunity to operate front-of-house.

"I've had the chance to chat to customers coming into the office and over the phone, finding out about their issues and the day to day queries and problems our staff deal with all the time.  I'm always happy to lend a hand covering when we are short staffed, its gives a real insight into the day to day nuts and bolts of the business".

Author - Sarah Hodgkinson | Added on 19/03/2012
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