During the challenging year just gone, Property Managers have continued to carry out scheduled estate inspections and made a huge effort to keep in touch with customers to ensure they are safe and well and our estates are cared for.
We recently caught up with Alex Saddington, Senior Property Manager for the East Midlands, about how Property Managers deliver services for customers on our estates. We wanted to learn more about his role and how his team is delivering services on the front line. Here’s what he had to say…
If you could tell our customers anything, what would it be?
If in doubt, report it! The Property Management team has been working hard to maintain a presence on our estates, whilst following the strict social distancing guidelines that have been in put in place by the Government. Whilst restrictions have posed a number of significant challenges, the team has responded by engaging with our customers directly to understand what is happening on the ground. This was particularly helpful in the early stages of the pandemic, as it helped us to better understand any concerns that you had and allowed us to respond accordingly.
This really taught us that our customers are our eyes and ears on each estate and by reporting issues to us directly as they happen, we are able to respond quickly and efficiently to resolve them. So please, if you see a repair or an issue that needs attention, contact us and report it.
Is there anything exciting happening in Property Management right now that you want to update customers on?
Virtual inspections! In an effort to return to business-as-usual, the team has been looking at ways to provide the services that customers expect, whilst ensuring that everyone is kept safe. This has involved video conferencing with customers to review repairs, online webinars to discuss upcoming programmes of work and the use of technology to communicate more effectively. Whilst we appreciate that this is not for everyone, it has become an important new tool in our toolbox that’s helped us to engage better with customers.
Have you been utilising Your Voice, our digital customer engagement platform, at all? Has this helped with the work you do day-to-day?
The team has been working hard to create a forum for each our estates on the Your Voice platform to keep customers up-to-date with everything that is happening where they live. Please keep an eye out for more details! For more information on how you can be involved, please visit our Get Involved page.