New contract sees over 3,000 repairs completed within six months
As the Pioneer Group’s new repairs partner, The Wrekin Housing Group, has completed over 3,000 jobs since lockdown began.
As part of its continuing efforts to deliver a high-standard and efficient repairs service, The Pioneer Group partnered with new contractor to deliver the repairs service from 1 April 2020.
Over the last seven months, the repairs team have been visible around the Castle Vale estate in branded vans, and is made up of seven experienced tradespeople and an apprentice.
The start of the partnership coincided with the first National lockdown and restrictions meant that only emergency call outs could be permitted. Teams at The Pioneer Group and The Wrekin Housing Group worked hard to ensure the partnership got off to a flying start even in the tough circumstances which still saw the completion of 350 jobs on the same day they were reported. These consisted of repairs that needed to be carried out immediately, including electricity failures, burst pipes and roof leaks.
In an effort to support the community during the lockdown, the team carried out vital support activities such as arranging medicine pickups and drop offs for residents and delivering food across the estate for those in need, whether elderly, suddenly unemployed, self-isolating or otherwise vulnerable members of the community.
Working closely with the charitable arm of The Pioneer Group, Compass Support, the contractors used their vans to deliver food parcels over 16 weeks, and dropped off five tonnes of essentials to food banks, ensuring that no one in Castle Vale or Stockland Green went hungry during the pandemic.
As the lockdown eased in June, The Pioneer Group’s repair team moved to a full service and from 1 April to the end of October completed 3,062 jobs, with another 215 already booked in for follow up work.
During this time, 62 void properties were also renovated to get them ready for new tenants to move in.
Customer feedback is extremely important to the future of the service and The Pioneer Groups’ Customer 1st team regularly carry out customer surveys via phone calls to receive information on the repairs service and understand potential service improvements.
Some feedback from customers includes:
- Plumbing job - “Job completed within three hours, brilliant service.”
- Roof leak - “Very good service, didn’t make a mess, arrived on time, efficient.”
- Security repair to back gate – “11/10 – operative arrived quickly, fantastic service.”
Keith Lanchbury, Head of Asset Management at The Pioneer Group, said:
“We have increased our investment into the vital repairs services we provide and we are seeing the true impact of our new partnership with The Wrekin Housing Group has on the lives of local people.”
“The repairs team have worked hard to find ways they can make a real difference for our residents, above and beyond their day to day service. We are delighted with what has been achieved and look forward to seeing this great work continue in the coming year.”
David Wells, Executive Director of Operational Services at The Wrekin Housing Group, said:
“It is great to be delivering our same day repairs service to the people of Castle Vale in collaboration with The Pioneer Group. At Wrekin we make a difference to people’s lives and the work the team do at Castle Vale optimises this perfectly, from getting involved supporting the community with deliveries during lockdown, to carrying out repairs.
I am really proud of how the teams adapted to the new working arrangements in April and got on with delivering a great service for customers throughout this challenging period. We are looking forward to carrying on this fantastic work as we move in to 2021.”
14th December 2020