National Housing Maintenance Forum

Shaun Aldis

Director of Property Services, Wolverhampton Homes

Shaun has had a varied career within the area of housing and asset management where he has held both operational and senior management positions. Shaun joined Wolverhampton Homes in 2001 and has been largely responsible for implementing and making service improvements within the repairs service.

During this period Shaun attained degrees in Business Studies and Housing, and holds corporate membership of the Institute of Management and Institute of Housing. He is also the ALMO representative on the National Housing Maintenance Forum.

He is responsible for the company’s provision of stock investment and asset management which covers: decent homes, procurement, response/planned maintenance, gas servicing, electrical, and asbestos works undertaken by the in-house Direct Labour Organisation.

Deanna Von Anrep

Senior Empty Homes Officer (Voids & Allocations), LHA-ASRA Group

Deanna began her career in housing with LHA 3 years ago in Property Services as a Team Assistant. Since then she has advanced her knowledge and experience in business management, voids and allocations, homelessness, and housing strategy. In her current role as Senior Empty Homes Officer she is primarily focused on strategy, particularly with regards to choice based lettings as well as acting as LHA’s Homelessness Champion.

This session will also contain input from tenants:

Philip Banks
Consumer Advisory Panel Chair, LHA-ASRA Group South Region

Lois Bodle
Consumer Advisory Panel Chair, LHA-ASRA Group North Region

Richard Baines

Director of Sustainable Development Black Country Housing Group Limited

Richard Baines trained as an environmental scientist in architecture. He is currently employed by the Group as an environmental consultant and is helping the Group, other housing associations and local authorities to learn about sustainability in housing and manufacturing. He is also leading research initiatives in procurement, best value, alternative technology and environmental business development.

Jessica Bradshaw

Group Director, Harvest Housing Group

Jessica Bradshaw Msc FCIPD has worked at director level in both the public and private sector and has focused on acting as an innovation and change leader in the area of people and process. Her aim is always to deliver imaginative, value added solutions which challenge traditional ways of operating. Jessica has led the development of the joint employment initiative between Harvest and the Cruden Group.

Alison Brown

Strategic Housing and Business Director, Mears Group plc

Alison has an extensive practical understanding of the complexities of the housing industry at a political, strategic and operational level having worked within a range of service streams in the sector for over 17 years.

Employment history includes housing associations, local authorities and a lead housing inspector for the Audit Commission with a lead role in VFM.

Alison has worked for Mears (a national housing maintenance and domiciliary care company) since spring 2008 where one of her responsibilities includes sharing and implementing positive practice within existing and new business.

Tony Bryan

Managing Director, Value Based Solutions

Tony Bryan is the founder and managing director of the acclaimed Value Based Solutions participating in both the consulting and education practices. He is an experienced business consultant, speaker and trainer in Value Based Management techniques and his work has featured in CIMA, housing and Financial Times publications.

He is passionate about helping organisations maximise the value and efficiency of their organisations across the private and public sector, through the use of his Value Based Management approach. Originating from the automotive and aerospace industries, Tony is a qualified accountant and spent many years working across Europe and the US with several major blue chip companies implementing Lean and Value Based Management techniques.

Will Campbell-Wroe

Managing Director, West Kent Extra

Will has specialised in working for charities in the housing sector for the past ten years and is a strong advocate for the role of housing associations as key strategic agencies for promoting and delivering community development work and the need to engage positively with residents. Will has extensive experience in the design, funding, delivery and evaluation of projects. He holds Masters degrees in Social Research, Social Policy and Housing; is incoming chair of Kent Children’s Fund Network and a member of the Chartered Institute of Housing.

Frances Child

Housing Inspector, Audit Commission

Frances Childs joined the Audit Commission in 2001 and has been involved in over 60 inspections. These include a wide range of housing inspections as well as those in other areas of local authority work such as development control, waste management and library services.  She was also involved in the development of the Supporting People inspection framework and its delivery.

Wayne Gales

Executive Director of Operation, SLH Group

Wayne is a Chartered Building Surveyor and an Associate of the Chartered Management Institute, with over 17 years experience working in the sector.

In his current role at South Liverpool Housing Group, based in Merseyside, he has responsibility for 70 staff delivering or supporting customer facing services. With a key remit to focus on, continually revitalising and improving service delivery and quality to meet the needs of customers, whilst maximising income generation and operational efficiency.

Chris George

Director of Property Services, Mendip Housing

Chris George has been in his current role at Mendip Housing since 2006, and has nearly 20 years experience within social housing repairs and maintenance. Whilst working for Gosport Borough Council he led on a partnering approach to delivering maintenance programmes in 1999 and has run a range of partnering arrangements built on the knowledge and experience gained from that time.

Jonathan Goose

Sales Director, Connaught Environmental

Jonathan Goose has been in his current role since 2007. His brief includes driving sustainable and affordable solutions in Waste, Grounds Maintenance, Street Scene and Waste markets to social housing, local government departments and infrastructure markets. Whilst Jonathan is relatively new to the environmental services market, he brings over twenty years experience within senior management, manufacturing and construction engineering within the UK.

Keiron Hart

Head of Insurance Services, Marishal Thompson Group

Keiron manages the delivery of risk related projects for the Marishal Thompson Group throughout the UK, and advises a number of major UK insurers on tree issues. Keiron has been working in the Arboricultural industry for 16 years and has project managed the delivery of large scale risk management surveys for multiple registered social landlord (RSL) clients. Keiron is a degree level Arboriculturalist, Chartered Environmentalist and a Fellow of the Arboricultural Association.

Steve Hesketh

Senior Electrical Engineer, Electrical Safety Council (ESC)

Steve is involved with one of the strategic priorities of the Electrical Safety Council - to increase consumer awareness of the dangers associated with the use of electrical installations and electrical products.

Steve started his career as an apprentice electrician and has now worked in the electrical contracting industry for over forty years. In that time he has been involved with electrical installation construction, design, inspection, testing and verification. Prior to moving to ESC, Steve was employed by the NICEIC for 18 years in a range of appointments in the Operations and Standards departments.

Wayne Hughes

Wayne Hughes is HQN’s Executive Director for Asset Management and Procurement.  He is a qualified building surveyor with experience at management level for both local authorities and housing associations.  He was previously Director of Building Services at South Staffordshire Housing Association before becoming a consultant in 2001.  Wayne has led Best Value reviews, mock inspections, organisational reviews, DLO health checks, developed Asset Management Strategies and undertaken Stock Options Studies and Maintenance & Asset Management Service Reviews.

Jeff Learman

Director of Stakeholder Management, Capita Gas Registration & Ancillary Services Ltd

Prior to working on the new gas installer registration scheme project, Jeff was attached to Capita's group sales department acting as an internal consultant on a number of bids requiring a wide range of stakeholder involvement. Previous to this Jeff transferred from the EMA (Education Maintenance Allowance) service where he was Client Director, responsible for account development and acting as the interface between Capita, DfES and a wide range of education and training stakeholders. Jeff has over 20 years experience in community development in particular working with disadvantaged, vulnerable and 'invisible' communities. He has worked in the voluntary sector for over 10 years as well as the public and private sectors.

Richard Macphail

Principal Consultant, National Energy Services

Richard was a founder director of Optima Energy and in 1989 he became a founder member of the trainers for the City & Guilds 6176 Energy awareness course.  Since then he has trained over 3,000 people in all aspects of domestic energy efficiency and advice.  He has also undertaken numerous energy advice projects for clients in Local Authorities and Housing Associations.  In addition, he is a trainer for the National Energy Rating Scheme (NHER).  In April 2003 Optima merged with National Energy Services (NES).  Within NES Richard is now principal consultant with responsibility for all aspects of energy training including the RdSAP which forms the key energy component of the Home Information Pack and provides EPCs for the rented sector.

Rob McNaughton

Associate, Housing Quality Network (HQN)

Rob is a chartered engineer and building surveyor and has been a consultant for 20 years.

Rob has been working with HQN for five years and recent assignments include mock BV inspections, ALMO development, the establishment of partnering repair and maintenance arrangements for an LSVT, a number of reviews of repairs and maintenance, the procurement of £500 million plus of R&M under full partnering arrangements, the development of composite schedules of rates and benchmarking repair costs from prime documentation.

Steve Michaux

Director of Leasehold Services, A2Dominion

Steve Michaux has been in his current role since January 2007. A2Dominion has a mixed tenure portfolio of 30000 properties of which 6500 are leaseholders or shared owners. Before joining A2D, Steve spent 10 years working as a freelance consultant/trainer specialising in housing management and the client contractor relationship. Prior to this he worked for Islington Council in a variety of roles within the Housing Department. Steve has written two thrilling books on good practice in Leasehold Management.

Liam O'Connell

Professional Speaker

Liam has worked in housing and the public and private sector for over 20 years. He has a wealth of experience in business and culture change and inspiring people to create great organisations and fantastic customer service. He has recently had his first book ‘Don't feed the ducks, inspire your people’ published. His innovative, emotive and ‘off the wall’ style is equally entertaining and thought provoking. He is currently working on a culture change programme for the largest repairs and maintenance contract in Europe. Liam has won a prestigious UK Skills National Training award and is a full member of the Professional Speakers Association.

John Powell

Managing Director, Frankham Risk Management Services Limited

John is a qualified Chartered Surveyor and a highly experienced property management professional with over 20 years experience in the industry, specialising in compliance and asset risk management. John's experience includes supporting the design and implementation of strategic change programmes, managing and advising on corporate compliance issues and developing/re-engineering business solutions for organizations with large property portfolios, including social housing. John is a founding member of the British Quality Foundation Steering Group on Business Continuity and a regular speaker on business resilience.

Paul Reader

Director, Environmental Property Services (EPS)

EPS provides repairs & maintenance services in the social housing sector. In 2000 Paul was one of the original members of the Housing Forum team promoting ‘Rethinking Construction’ and also part of the local government ‘Rethinking construction’ task force. During the past 10 years he has witnessed and participated in partnering from a client, central government policy and contractor perspective.

Paul Reeve

Head of Safety & Environment, Electrical Contractors' Association (ECA)

Paul Reeve is a leading member of the Specialist Engineering Contractors' health and safety group. Paul is a Chartered Fellow of IOSH and has been an active H,S&E professional since the early 90s. He is also a former editor of two leading health and safety magazines ('Health and Safety at Work' and 'The Safety and Health Practitioner'). In 2002 he received the RoSPA award for distinguished service to safety. Paul has been with the ECA for five years, and he was also head of safety and environment at the Engineering Employers' Federation.

John Richards

John Richards – Director, Thames Laboratories

John has almost 25 years experience in the asbestos sector and is a member of the RICS asbestos working group. He represents the RICS on the HSE Asbestos Liaison Group. John is a past Chairman of Asbestos Testing and Consulting (ATAC) and has sat on the Governing Council of the Asbestos Removal Contractors Association. Thames Laboratories is a specialist asbestos consultancy and John is currently working with a number of interest groups dealing with asbestos in schools and asbestos awareness training.

Damion Rothner

Sales Manager, Travis Perkins Managed Services.

The Managed Services division of Travis Perkins focuses exclusively on the needs of Social Housing Providers through the provision of procurement management partnerships. The majority of these partnerships currently focus on the externalisation of stores services for client's repair and maintenance functions. The Wolverhampton Homes case study seminar is one example of this type of solution.

Damion has been in this role for some six years, and has been at the forefront of the industry, developing various bespoke solutions which have been tailored to the meet the specific needs of the expanding customer base. TP Managed Services currently has more than fifty partnerships in the sector, delivering best value and continual improvement measures for their clients.

Richard Sorensen

Tenant Services Co-ordinator, Tenant Services Authority

Richard was formerly the Housing Corporation’s Head of Regulation for the North West and West Midlands. He has a background in housing and consumer rights through previous roles at Shelter and the Legal Services Commission.

Russell Smith

Russell Smith – Managing Director, Parity Eco Solutions

Russell Smith is a Chartered Civil Engineer with experience in a range of managerial and technical roles in contracting and consulting companies. Russell is an expert in renovating 'hard-to-treat' buildings to minimise their energy and water consumption having experience of the materials, techniques, design approaches, and crucially, the in-situ performance of installed measures through monitoring.

He is founder of Parity Projects, a company specialising in the delivery of both single and multiple dwelling eco-renovations, for private individuals and owners of property portfolios, and now also Parity Eco Solutions a consultancy providing feasibility, design support and training in eco-refurbishment.

Robin Summerhill

Robin has worked in the social housing sector for over 25 years, both in local government and for a Registered Social Landlord. Since 1992 he has been working primarily at a corporate and strategic level, working closely and directly with first tier management.

His key skills include detailed investigational work (he dealt with formal complaints for an RSL for 9 years) database management, special projects, land law and research and development. He also has considerable experience in setting up procedures to enable RSLs meet the Decent Homes standard.

Robin is also a qualified SAP surveyor, which, together with his considerable experience in the fields of energy efficiency and Decent Homes, enables him to carry out a wide range of related commissions, from individual SAP assessments on individual properties to the energy profiling of a landlord’s entire housing stock. He has also undertaken stock condition surveys for a number of organisations.

Michelle Swarbrick

Group HR Manager, Cruden Group

Michelle Swarbrick MCIPD is responsible for a workforce in excess of 400 professional staff and skilled trade operatives. Michelle has successfully handled many TUPE transfers within the maintenance contractor environment ensuring that Cruden have a workforce which is shaped and motivated to deliver success. Her aim is to combine sound commercial employment arrangements with forward thinking partnership working.

Greg Trimmer

Managing Director, Trimmer CS

Greg Trimmer has led national research projects on behalf of the Housing Corporation to assess how housing association homes are meeting the Decent Homes Standard and was the lead author of “Making It Work”, an NHF publication exploring efficiency in housing service delivery, and of “Understanding Our Assets”, a Housing Corporation publication for housing association Boards.

Sally-Anne Underhill

Empty Homes Manager (Voids & Allocations), LHA-ASRA Group

Sally-Anne began her housing career some 17 years ago within the Armed Forces; she has gained extensive experience in a variety of areas within the Housing Sector including Housing Management, Maintenance, Homelessness, Tenancy Support and Tenant Participation.  Sally-Anne now specializes in Voids and Allocations and has been working within this area for the past 8 years.  Currently Sally-Anne manages the voids and allocation process for LHA, part of the LHA-ASRA Group and has implemented and led on some interesting innovative good practices for tenant involvement within the voids process.

Tim Wilson

Chief Executive, M3 Consultancy

Tim has over 25 years experience as a practitioner in property management. He has worked in both the public and private sector. Until 2004, he was the Director of Property Services with a large transfer housing association responsible for all property and asset management functions. He was Chairman of the National Housing Federation’s Asset Management Advisory Panel, and Chairman of the National Housing Federation’s South West HAMMAR Group for 5 years and Chairman of the National HAMMAR Group for 2 years. He set up the successful consultancy arm of M3 in 2004 and carries out work for a wide range of clients.