Tim Derrick and Steve Boscic
Tenants in Abbey Wood have been delighted with the changes made to their homes though the Decent Homes scheme.
Chair of the Abbey Wood Housing Panel, Steve Boscic says that active tenant participation and working closely with Council officers is the key to successful improvement programmes.
Tenant representative
Steve quickly volunteered his services when the Council were looking for tenant representatives to sit on panels who were selecting contractors to work in partnership with the Council on the Decent Homes scheme.
His first reaction was surprise at the amount of work that went on behind the scenes before builders arrived on the estates.
Good working relationships
Steve now feels that because the partnered contractors will be working on the estate until 2010, this continuity will allow better relationships between tenants, their representatives and the contractor’s staff.
He has worked closely with Project Manager Tim Derrick for two years and feels that they have the sort of working relationship that can tackle any problem.
Delighted residents
Steve is looking forward to meeting more delighted residents as the new works programme is wheeled out across the estate.
He still enjoys retelling the story of the elderly resident who was visited by her sister from Scotland. Proudly showing off her new kitchen, the tenant was a little disappointed that her sister refused to believe that such a high quality installation had been provided by the local authority!
November 2006