Client: Tower Hamlets Homes (THH)

Repair Service: 100 Day Improvement Plan

Tower Hamlets Homes, an ALMO responsible for the management of 22,000 homes required urgent improvement in the delivery of its repair and maintenance services. The timescale of these improvements is driven by the Audit Commissions inspections in which Tower Hamlets Homes aims to achieve a two star rating. The improvements will redesign the delivery of the repair and maintenance service around residents and remove as many of the obstacles as possible that currently exist between a resident and an operative.

Pinnacle Consulting worked closely with both major repairs contactors and Tower Hamlets Homes’ senior management to establish an Improvement Plan to achieve maximum impact on the repairs service within 100 days of initiation.  Residents and THH Board members were involved in this improvement plan and consulted throughout, through a Repair Steering Group. After reviewing the current service it was agreed that the following improvements could be made quickly:

• Increased and improved resident involvement in the repair service.
• Inclusion of a payment mechanism for contractors based upon a performance regime to move to a system where both THH and the contractors are motivated by increased resident satisfaction.
• Joint working between council and contractors in the call centre to ensure quick diagnosis of repairs
• Joint estate inspections to improve the delivery of communal repairs, and closer working between housing officers, technical staff and contractors.

The Improvement Plan is delivering short term improvements to the repairs service as well as providing a basis for longer term improvements. The estate Repair Days, held on all estates within the borough helped clear a back log of repairs as well as allowing residents to talk directly to the contractors about their repairs issues.   The changes also allowed THH to pilot new ways of working before re-procuring the repair and maintenance contract in autumn 2009