We are delighted to announce that we are now able to provide local support for our services in the North of England and Scotland. Being a national consortium with local presence allows our member service delivery team to fully understand our members specific needs based on local demographics. We now have over 100 members managing over 800,000 homes across the UK and hope that expanding our reach will provide more services and support.

So, we welcome the latest edition to the CHIC team, Lesley Dixon. Lesley joins us as Head of Member Services overseeing the expansion of our service delivery in the North of England and Scotland. Previously the Chief Executive of Cumbria Housing Partners, she brings with her a wealth of knowledge in social housing, asset management, procurement, and account management.

If you would like to get in touch, please contact Lesley at ldixon@chicltd.co.uk, Stephen at ssharman@chicltd.co.uk or Victoria at vspeakman@chicltd.co.uk

In Other News

We are delighted to announce Totally Modular as the delivery partner for our BuildSmart Volumetric Housing Pilot Contract, part of our ongoing work to change the face of housing delivery through offsite manufacture.

John Connolly, Managing Director of Totally Modular commented…

‘Having tendered against other suppliers of volumetric residential offering via the framework document, we are pleased to have been chosen as the sole partner for delivery of CHIC’s BuildSmart model aimed at registered providers. This pilot initiative will align the aspirations of clients who are on the start of their journey with modular delivery of new development portfolios, but have chosen to take small steps in order to gain a better understanding of the benefits this model has to offer before they consider greater buy in.’

CHIC are currently evaluating tenders for new longer term contracts for modular delivery, to follow on from the pilot.

If you would like to find out more about Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) and how CHIC can help you make your first step, please contact Paul Sutton psutton@arkconsultancy.co.uk

You may have noticed some structural changes to the CHIC team recently. We have reviewed and made some changes to the job titles of some team members to better represent their responsibilities:

• CHIC’s Commercial Director Luke Hurd, has now become our Chief Operating Officer
• Our Account Management Team are now the Member Services Team
• CHIC’s Supply Chain Assistant Manager Joe Scurr, has now progressed a new role to Account Manager

If you would like some more information, please get in touch at enquiries@chicltd.co.uk.

Last month, we launched our new legal services framework, comprising 22 leading law firms who can deliver your organisation expert advice on housing & asset management, governance and finance and property & development. Below we introduce 3 of the organisations who are accessible now through our framework.  We will introduce others in future editions of CHIC CHAT.

Ashfords is a national provider of legal and regulatory services. They combine legal expertise, commercial experience, and a wider network to help their clients achieve their goals, providing value for time and value for money.

They have extensive experience advising Registered Providers and are have been appointed to Lot 1: Corporate, Governance & Finance and Lot 3: Property & Development.

Paul Butterworth, Partner and Head of the Housing Communities & Regeneration team, is the key contact for CHIC Members. Paul has in-house experience at both a Housing Association and Local Authority as well as advising Registered Providers on major housing projects. This deep understanding of the sector means Paul is well placed to help your organisation realise its ambitions.

You can contact Paul directly on p.butterworth@ashfords.co.uk / Tel: 0117 3218052 / Mobile: 07889 168364

Anthony Collins are one of the top UK firms supporting the housing sector. Our commitment to social housing stems from our desire “to improve lives, communities and society”.

They pride themselves on a wide breadth of experience across the social housing field, calling upon a deep team of distinguished sector experts equipped to advise sizeable local and national clients on sophisticated matters.

Their expertise ranges from major projects such as stock transfers, innovative structures and joint ventures, to the day-to-day nuts and bolts of making housing work; their solicitors have the knowledge and expertise to help you further your purpose and are available on all 3 workstream lots.

Key Contact Jon Coane

Partner

T: 0121 214 3680

F: 0121 212 7438

M: 07920 747707

jon.coane@anthonycollins.com

Batchelors is a leading firm of solicitors with offices in London and in Bromley in the South East, specialising in all aspects of housing management litigation. It has one of the largest dedicated teams of solicitors in the country specialising in housing management and is consistently top ranked in Chambers & Partners and Legal 500 legal directories for quality of service and expertise.

The team has been acting for social housing providers for over 80 years and has an enviable reputation in the sector. It has a great track record in obtaining injunctions and possession orders, dealing with anti-social behaviour, criminal behaviour and tenancy fraud cases. Always putting client service first, the team also boasts expertise in leasehold matters and dealing with disrepair claims.

Please contact Andrew Harmer in the first instance on 020 8768 7061 or aharmer@batchelors.co.uk.