The Repairs and Maintenance Unit in consultation with the Community Housing Panel has agreed changes to the Responsive Repairs categories. These changes will come into place later on this year. The old categories of E =Emergency, U = Urgent and 4,6,&7 are being changed to E, U and R. The changes are aimed at simplifying the existing categories and improving response times for tenants.
The Repairs and Maintenance Unit are also in consultation with the Community Housing Panel to modernise the existing re-let minimum standards. It is hoped agreement can be reached to improve the specification in line with current decency standard requirements. However, any amendments will be subject to the funding being available.
The Repairs and Maintenance Unit has successfully introduced On-line Repairs reporting on the council's website. This will be followed with On-line customer satisfaction surveys for all works including responsive repairs, gas servicing and programmed maintenance, in the near future.
The Repairs and Maintenance Unit are delighted to be employing two additional apprentices this summer in addition to the existing trainees who are in the process of starting their 3rd and final year of training.
The Repairs and Maintenance Unit are close to completing a procurement exercise for the delivery of lift maintenance to Joseph Groome Towers and the servicing and repair of disabled stairlifts. We are seeking to secure improvements in service delivery and efficiencies by combining two separate contracts into a minimum 3 year agreement.
The new computerised housing information system is now available to our Central Control staff at Joseph Groome Towers. This will aid the development of a modernised out of hours emergency repair service, providing the Repairs and Maintenance Unit with real time information when responding to emergencies and providing staff at the towers with an essential data base to accurately identify tenant led requests.
