ISSUE 15AUTUMN 2010

EAST THAMESfocus

NEW ADDITIONS TO THE EAST THAMES BOARD East Thames welcomes two new board members; Tina Tietjen, joins us as the new chair of the East Thames Board and Mark Westcott, is elected to the East Homes Board.

More than a housing association

020 8522 2000 | www.east-thames.co.uk Making a positive and lasting contribution to the neighbourhoods in which we work

TOP STORIES >>

East Thames regeneration special

GREENER PASTURES AT THE ATHLETES VILLAGE

The landscaping project at the Athletes Village is underway as work begins on a new wetlands park, creating 10 hectares of new parklands, wetlands and open space and 2,000 new trees.

WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY CELEBRATED

World Mental Health day took place on Sunday 10 October, providing the opportunity to raise awareness of mental health and think about how it affects people’s lives and how we can all challenge the stigma.

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East Thames welcomed two new board members over September.

Tina Tietjen, joined us as the new Chair of the East Thames Board.

Tina has a background in business, experience in the public, private and voluntary sectors and was recently awarded an OBE for her services to the aviation industry.

She is currently Chair of the Air Transport Users Council which campaigns for air passengers’ rights and was previously Chair of WRVS, a charity which supports older people.

Tina said she is looking forward to joining East Thames and bringing a range of skills from her commercial and not-for-profit background.

Tina said: “It’s the first time I’ve worked in social housing, so it’s very exciting for me and I’m looking

New additions to the East Thames Board

forward to the challenge. I have a lot of experience working with charities, older people and businesses which I can bring to East Thames.”

Tina takes over the role of Chair from Bob Chilton who has been chair for the past six years.

Mark Westcott has recently been elected to the East Homes Board.

Mark is a Registered Architect and Chartered Landscape Architect. He has a wealth of experience in regeneration, housing and community projects for national Government and private agencies.

Mark has been a valued and active resident since 2003 and has been involved in a number of customer groups and panels over the years. Mark was chair of the East Homes Residents Contract Monitoring Group from 2009-10.

A massive thank you to Bob Chilton who served as Chair of the East Thames Board from 2004 to 2010.

Thank you to Bob Chilton

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World Mental Health day took place on Sunday 10 October, providing the opportunity to raise awareness of mental health and think about how it affects people’s lives and how we can all challenge the stigma.

To mark the occasion we hosted a Newham-wide World Mental Health Day event. The event took place at our head office in Stratford and brought together a whole range of organisations that provide support and advice for people suffering from mental health problems, including Mind, the East London NHS Foundation Trust and Newham Psychological Therapies.

The event was structured around the Government’s five-a-day approach to well being, with these five ways to stay well:

Connect with people around you.Be active by regularly doing a

physical activity that you enjoy.Take notice of the world around you and understand what things are important to you.Keep learning new things, to build your confidence.Give something back to the community and enjoy the rewarding feeling it gives you.

In keeping with this approach, the event featured a range of activities including dance workshops, aerobics classes, tai-chi, live music, poetry, drama and massage. Stalls were also set up providing information on the University of East London (UEL) and other adult education and employment services including East Potential’s employment and training programmes.

One of the best ways of addressing mental health problems is to stay active and fit. Our East Living

Football Club (ELFC) have been doing exactly that! Made up of residents from our mental health schemes, the team marked World Mental Health Day by taking part in the Positive Mental Attitude Tournament, finishing in second place. Justin, one of the ELFC players (pictured above, second left) even won the tournament’s Golden Boot after scoring 16 goals in five games. Justin is one of three ELFC players who have recently benefitted from work placements with two premiership football teams; Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspurs. The placements were organised by East Living support worker, Emma Hastings, and are part of the Football Association’s commitment to using football both to tackle mental health stigma and to enable people to live more independent and fulfilling lives.

World Mental Health Day - 10 October 2010

East Thames regeneration special

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It’s really important to us that the affordable homes we provide are of a high standard and are situated in safe, vibrant neighbourhoods. We’re currently doing a lot of regeneration work across east London and Essex to achieve this aim. Here’s a run down of how we’re improving the areas we work in.

East Thames has delivered a successful pilot development in Harold Hill, Havering, transforming derelict buildings into large family homes. A derelict bungalow and several dilapidated garages that were attracting anti-social behaviour, have been turned into four energy efficient, spacious family homes. And this is just the beginning. Havering Council hopes to create another 150 new homes by developing a further 70 underutilised sites over the next two years. East Thames has been appointed to work with Havering Council on 63 of these homes over 23 sites.

Barbara Rankin, 63, moved into one of the homes with her children and grandchildren. She said: “Over the last five years my family has moved on to seven different houses. At last I have a nice home I can bring my children up in. It is absolutely amazing. When I first saw the house I could not believe we were being offered this. I was so happy I started to cry.” Top: Resident Barbara Rankin cuts the ribbon at her new home.

Bottom: Before and after, disused land transformed into family homes.

Family homes rise from the rubble in Havering as garage sites get redeveloped

Tenants decide the future of New Union Wharf

More than 80% of residents at New Union Wharf took part in a vote to say whether they wanted Decent Homes refurbishment or more radical regeneration. By an extremely close margin, the vote favoured regeneration.

The decision to move forward with regeneration proposals was given the go-ahead by the East Homes Board in September after four New Union Wharf residents met with

them to discuss the options and put forward their views and concerns.

The estate currently consists of 189 rented apartments, but under the regeneration plans, these would be replaced by 400 high quality, spacious new homes. There would also be a mixture of tenures on the site, which helps ensure a sustainable and integrated community.

New Union Wharf estate residents have been involved in deciding the future of their estate from the very beginning. They will continue to be involved in selecting an architect and moving forward with the designs.

We’re aiming to submit our application for planning permission in autumn 2011 and building work is due to start on site some time in 2012.

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East Thames has been given the green light to begin regeneration work on our Hammond House estate on the Isle of Dogs.

Work on the £13m regeneration programme will begin in February and will replace the existing 38 apartments, which were all built in

Paper Mill Place

We’ve been celebrating the regeneration of Walthamstow’s Blackhorse Lane area with the official opening of Paper Mill Place.

The development was opened in September by the Mayor of Waltham Forest, Cllr Massood Ahmad.

Paper Mill Place is the first major housing development from the Blackhorse Lane/Sutherland Road regeneration master plan and will kick start other regeneration projects in the area.

Of the 241 homes on the site, East Thames has 107 available for social rent and intermediate rent. Other units on the site are owned by L&Q and Telford Homes. Further work

will begin in December to create another 82 East Thames homes on the site which will be available on a variety of tenures.

Above: Paper Mill Place in Waltham ForestBelow: Images of the new Hammond House development

Green light for Hammond House regeneration on the Isle of Dogs

the 1930s, with 56 new affordable homes.

The new homes will have 10-15% more space than the homes currently on the estate and many will be family sized properties with three or four bedrooms. There will also be one and two bedroom

apartments and several will be adapted for wheelchair users. The homes will be available from mid 2012 for social rent, shared ownership and some for outright sale.

Thanks to the inclusion of energy, water and waste saving measures, the development will achieve a Level 4 Code for Sustainable Homes rating, which is above current Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) standards. This also means that 10% of the energy used in the homes will be from a renewable source such as solar roof panels.

The HCA is providing £2.64m of funding for the development. East Thames will also be contributing funding towards local amenities such as infrastructure and education.

Visit www.east-thames.co.uk/development for more information on our current projects

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News from across the Group

We’re pleased to unveil our new and improved website.

After months of preparation and an intense consultation period involving both residents and staff, our new website is complete. The site now has a vibrant new look with a much clearer format, making it more user friendly and easier to navigate.

To view the website, visit: www.east-thames.co.uk

This is the first phase of a comprehensive update to our web presence. Over the next few months we will be changing the East Living, East Potential and East Homes websites too.

New East Thames website

We have recently produced an annual performance report for all our residents.

The report has been put together following new requirements from our regulator, the Tenant Services Authority (TSA). The TSA has asked all social landlords to take a new co-regulation approach, which means more decisions and scrutiny of our work coming from residents working together with housing association boards.

The annual report to residents forms part of this approach and several residents have been heavily involved in its production. The report, which has been sent out to all our residents, looks at the services we provide, how we meet the TSA’s standards and how we plan to improve.

The report is available at www.east-homes.co.uk/ReportResidents2010.

Annual Review 2009/10 now online

Annual performance report goes out to residents

The 2009/10 East Thames Annual Review is now ready and available on a dedicated new website.

The review provides a snapshot of our achievements and performance over the past year and explains how we’re making a difference in east London and Essex.

This year we have put the review online in a dynamic multimedia site which includes the use of video, enabling stakeholders to really get to grips with the work we do.

It’s simple, easy to use and won’t take you long to find the answers you’re looking for.

We have also been able to reduce our environmental impact by making the annual reviews available online rather than in a printed format.

Visit www.east-thames.co.uk/ar10

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Another of the TSA’s new requirements on social landlords is to review the local services we provide to residents.

As part of our commitment to putting residents at the heart of what we do, and to fulfil these requirements, we’re making sure the services our residents receive from us are right for their area.

Once we know which issues are most important to residents in each area, we will create local offers. The local offer will include information on how services are monitored and what residents can do if they feel the services aren’t be managed properly.

We have a number of universal standards that apply to all residents, such as repair response times and complaints. But we know that certain areas require a more tailored approach, such as help setting up a residents’ association or changes to the way communal repairs are carried out.

We’re gathering feedback and opinions from as many residents as possible, visiting the areas we work

Going local to review services

in to meet residents and talk about their local issues.

We also have a survey that can be completed either over the phone, in person, or online, and we’re using a dedicated blog to keep residents up to date - http://residentvoice.wordpress.com/

We are also reviewing our resident involvement strategy and hope to create a tenant lead scrutiny panel; develop a network of residents to act as inspectors and mystery shoppers; and put more of an emphasis on local engagement through the local offers and more residents’ associations.

If you would like to contact us for any reason, please contact the Marcoms team:fiona.mcewan@east-thames.co.uk 020 8522 2042llewellyn.annandale@east-thames.co.uk 020 8536 8898We welcome feedback on this magazine, or on any aspect of our work.

East Thames Focus is produced by East Thames Group, Marcoms Team, 29-35 West Ham Lane, Stratford E15 4PH Tel: 020 8522 2000 Fax: 020 8522 2001 Email: marcoms@east-thames.co.uk Web: www.east-thames.co.uk

East Thames Group provides more than 13,500 affordable homes in east London and Essex. We provide homes for rent, affordable home ownership and residential care homes. But we’re more than a landlord – we’re also a property developer and provider of employment, training and community programmes.

Our mission is to make a positive and lasting contribution to the neighbourhoods where we work. And our focus is firmly on east London – this has been the case since we started as a small housing association in 1979 – and that commitment hasn’t changed.

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About East Thames

Greener pastures at the Athletes VillageThe landscaping project at the Athletes Village is underway as work begins on a new wetlands park.

Plans unveiled by the Olympic Delivery Authority reveal that the landscaping project will create 10 hectares of new parklands, wetlands, and open space featuring more than 2,000 new trees and over 100,000 wetland and wild flower plants.

Play areas, cycling facilities and picnic areas will also sit among the open spaces and the homes in the village.

The Athletes Village will be transformed after the 2012 Games into 2,818 homes. 1,379 of these homes will be affordable and will be managed by Triathlon Homes, a joint venture between East Thames, First Base and Southern Housing.

Geoff Pearce, East Thames Director of Development and Asset Management said: “Residents of the Athletes Village will be able to enjoy a healthy and active lifestyle, taking advantage of the walking and cycling opportunities on their doorstep. It really will be one of the nicest and greenest places to live in east London.”