“I joined BCHA in November of 2023 but transitioned to the role of Head of Repairs in early 2025. My role covers the whole of the South-West, reviewing and monitoring the performance of my team and our properties, which is around 1400 units. That covers repairs, voids and planned work, such as kitchen and bathroom refurbishments. Two key points of my role is ensuring that our customers’ journey is successful and also ensuring our colleagues feel motivated – I call them the two C’s!
“If I could describe my team in one word it would be ‘brilliant’. I have 4 supervisors that I oversee: Ricky, Graham, Lee and Ed, and together they look after about 20 trades people, who do around 5,500 repairs per year. There is also a dedicated gardener and a cleaner who do great jobs covering our schemes that are in the BCP area. The team also ensures our voids are repaired and of good quality to ensure they can be filled quickly by those facing homelessness.
“I have 25 years of experience in the sector so being able to pass knowledge on is useful in this role. I have “Toolbox Talks” with our trades people, where I do a short presentation to share updates from the business. Our trades people have a massive impact, and a massively positive impact at that: they may not think it but they truly are our customers’ heroes! It’s great to be able to share the compliments they’ve received on their work in these talks to let them know how appreciated both myself and BCHA are for them.
“I like to meet with customers to be able to discuss challenges they have and how we can better improve our services. Sometimes being able to see a property in person, you might pick up on things that our tenant might not have even noticed, such as needing the gutters cleaned – sometimes it can look like allotments in the gutters!"
Our trades people have a massive impact, and a massively positive impact at that: they may not think it but they truly are our customers’ heroes!
“I’ve also been pleased to work on a new project with Chris George, our Director of Homes and with Manhattan Kitchens. When we have an empty property, say there is a kitchen that is a bit old or at the end of it’s life though still functional, previously we would put in a brand-new standard kitchen model in white. However, this new project means that our customers can move in and settle, before working with BCHA to design their kitchens – no matter what colour or style they would like, customers can choose anything from the Dulux colour range! It’s like for like, we aren’t Laurence Llewellyn Bowen, but we like for our customers to really make their property their home.
“Something I find really exciting about the role is our colleagues. I’ve met some unbelievable colleagues who do fantastic work and it is really inspiring. I’ve used the word inspiring often during my time at BCHA: seeing the great work my colleagues put in during challenging circumstances is fantastic and really motivates me in the mornings. Knowing my colleagues are so passionate about BCHA’s work really inspires me to always give the best I can to the organisation, I like to say that they give platinum service to our customers!”
“An interesting project I worked on was one I started fairly early on at Creek House which is in the centre of Bournemouth. It was a very challenging project which made it quite rewarding – we were able to completely bring the units to life. We decorated, sorted the communal area and put in new doors and it really bought the team closer together. I also found it reaffirmed that Housing and Repairs are not seperate issues, they work together side by side."
Knowing my colleagues are so passionate about BCHA’s work really inspires me to always give the best I can to the organisation, I like to say that they give platinum service to our customers!
“Working for BCHA for me means being able to make a difference. I think for any organisation making a difference is a key point, but I make sure I do my best for others around me and our customers. I really prioritise reflection in my role and make a point to spend time reflecting both on the good and the bad points, but especially how we’ve been able to make that difference. I also think being able to understand the new challenges we face as a Housing Association is important. It’s been over a quarter of a century since I’ve been in this sector so a lot of things have changed, not just the technology!”
“From my time with BCHA so far, I’ve carried a phrase without me: ‘widen your lens’. We have to look at the bigger picture and see what is having an impact, not just the small task that you may be working on. I like to bring everyone on that journey with me, but being able to broaden my view has really changed how I work.”
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