Pennycrofts Court Customer engagement strategy

Introduction

We are committed to listening to you and making sure you feel safe in your home.

This strategy sets out how we are making sure that you can be confident that your building is safe and have a greater say in how it is managed.

We want to keep you informed and give you opportunities to challenge our decision making by taking part in any discussions about your building.

Our goal is for your experiences to be at the heart of our approach to building safety.

What’s the purpose of this strategy?

This strategy explains how we will work together, involving and communicating with you about building safety.

We will:

  • Make sure you feel safe in your home and are confident to speak up about any building safety concerns.
  • Provide you with any building safety information you need.
  • Communicate with you about key building safety updates.
  • Involve you in any decision making around the safety of your home.
  • Confirm our responsibilities as a landlord and your responsibilities as customers, to make sure all our homes stay safe.
  • Raise awareness of building safety amongst colleagues.

We know how important it is for you to have your say on building safety decisions that affect you and the Building Safety Act 2022 says customers must have opportunities to express their views.

Our commitment to keeping you updated about building safety

We will make sure you are fully informed about about how we keep your building safe.

We will work with you to make sure the information is customer friendly and offered in different languages and formats, so that everyone living in Pennycrofts Court can understand important messages about building safety.

Our website offers 24/7 accessibility support. You can access speech, reading and translation assistance at any time by simply clicking the accessibility icon from any page of our website.

Moving in

It is important that we get things right from the start. When a new resident moves into Pennycrofts Court, we will provide them with the building safety information for their home. This will be included as part of the sign-up pack or welcome pack.

They will also be given a home user guide, which includes safety information for the building. It will also explain how they can contact their Building Safety Manager and how they can get involved. Their Building Safety manager will be their first point of contact for any safety questions.

Signage

We will make sure that key safety information is always available for customers of Pennycrofts Court.

The information below will be displayed through clear signage in an accessible font size, on the building’s walls.

  • What to do in the event of a fire or lift breakdown
  • Fire exit signs
  • Fire prevention
  • Dry risers
  • Fire doors

Building Safety inspections

We carry out many planned inspections to make sure our buildings are safe.

This includes:

  • Fire Risk Assessments (FRAs)
  • Safety testing and servicing

Planned maintenance and remediation The frequency of these planned inspections is available from our Building Safety Management Team. To request the information, you can email: buildingmanagement@housingplusgroup.co.uk

Website

We are reviewing how we share information with you on our website, so that all building safety information is available in one place.

General guidance and information about keeping your home and building safe is currently available on our website.

You can report a building safety issue in a variety of ways, online via our contact us page www.homesplus.co.uk/contact-us-form/ or over the phone to our customer services team on 0800 048 8955 (24/7).

Other communication channels

We will use a variety of ways to share building safety messages, to meet the diverse needs of our residents.

This includes:

  • A Building Safety Manager – the first point of contact for residents, building users and contractors
  • New tenancy welcome pack
  • Pennycrofts Court Building Safety webpage
  • Remediation newsletters
  • Letters
  • Communications on our digital notice board
  • Resident newsletters (postal and email)
  • Resident ‘drop in’ surgeries and ‘face to face’ meetings
  • Resident awareness days/events
  • Online meetings via Teams
  • Social media platforms

Specific building safety communications will be created for Pennycrofts Court to provide vital and timely information regarding any consultation and works needed.

We will provide written updates about works at least once a quarter and hold resident meetings at key milestones throughout the project.

We will contact you by telephone with any urgent or emergency updates.

Our commitment to engaging with you about building safety

We will give you opportunities to get involved in building safety decisions, to make sure your home remains safe now and in the future.

All our residents can join our Customer Partnership Panel (CPP). We will also offer you involvement in building safety by:

  • Asking residents how safe they feel in their building.
  • Creating surveys and virtual focus groups on building safety.
  • Encouraging residents to become a Building Champion. They will help to deliver information to other residents, keep us informed and report any issues.
  • Holding a resident meeting to discuss building safety once per quarter, or upon request, with the Building Safety Manager.
  • Carrying out a ‘walk about’ with residents and the Building Safety Manager every other month.
  • Involving residents in our fire safety plans, at a strategic level.

How you can help us keep our buildings safe

We must work together with you on building safety.

As the landlord, we are responsible for carrying out building safety inspections throughout the year. A list of these inspections is available on request.

You can help us keep your building safe by letting us know of any safety concerns, complying with our messages on building safety and taking responsibility for the safety of your homes and the buildings you live in.

The Building Safety Act 2022 places a responsibility on residents to make sure their actions do not negatively impact on the safety of others.

Residents:

  • Must not do anything that creates a risk to their building’s structural safety.
  • Must not do anything that creates a risk of causing, or spreading, a fire in Pennycrofts Court.
  • Must not damage or remove any of their building’s fire safety measures, such as smoke detectors, fire alarms, fire doors, fire notices and fire extinguishers.
  • Must comply with the Principal Accountable Person’s requests for information, reasonably required to assess and manage building safety risks.

Your Building safety manager is: William Hodgson

Contact email: buildingmanagement@housingplusgroup.co.uk

Complaints

Under the Building Safety Act 2022 a ‘relevant complaint’ about building safety may relate to:

  • A building safety risk to a specific building.
  • The performance of an Accountable Person in fulfilling their duties under the Building Safety Act.

We have a complaints process which can be accessed by any customer, service user, tenant or any other person affected by the delivery of our services.

All complaints relating to building safety can be submitted through our complaints process. They will be forwarded to the Building Safety Management Team, via our Customer Advocacy Team. Any issues of significance will be forwarded to the regulator by the Senior compliance and building safety manager, who will maintain contact and provide updates as to the mitigation measures.

We operate a two-stage complaints process which allows you to challenge the decisions on a complaint and comment on any findings during an investigation.

We will make sure residents are informed of expected timeframes for handling and investigating a complaint.

If a resident remains unhappy with the outcome of a complaint after stage two, they can escalate their complaint to the Building Safety Regulator or any other relevant regulators.

For details on how to contact the Building Safety Regulator, visit www.gov.uk/guidance/contact-the-building-safety-regulator

 

How to make a complaint

We know that sometimes things go wrong or the service you receive falls short of your expectations. When this happens, we want to hear from you so that we can put it right and improve our services to prevent similar problems from happening again.

You can make a complaint by contacting us in the following ways:

Complete our online form at www.housingplusgroup.co.uk/complaints-form

We are registered with the Housing Ombudsman and are committed to complying with their Complaint Handling Code.

Please be aware that you can contact the Housing Ombudsman at any stage of your complaint for further advice and assistance:

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