The Cedars, Hanover Housing

The Cedars project for Hanover Housing has received great feedback from the residents, the Scheme Manager and the client.

The contract was for the repair and redecoration to the externals of 50 bungalows to include soffits, fascias, windows, cladded dormer windows, apex cladding, bin room doors, gates and fences, and to decorate the Estate Office.

The residents of this Sheltered Scheme Community had previously run into difficulties with contractors, which lead to 2 years of dispute and unease when it came to choosing their next contractor. So, a meeting was set up between the Resident Committee, Hanover Housing and Whittle, that was attended by Whittle’s Contract Co-Ordinators Craig Dainty and Caley Brosnan. Also invited was Simon Carter, who was tasked with the Foremanship of this contract. Armed with a draft programme, scope of works and a full Health and Safety pack, the team set about allaying the fears of the residents by explaining what works would be carried out, and how and when.

The meeting was well attended by the residents and questions were fired at us from all directions. All of the questions were answered, and it was agreed that a ‘benchmark’ property would be completed so that everybody would be able to see the process of work and how the finished product would look. This contract was specified by Dulux, so it was also arranged for the Specifier to return to site once the benchmark property was completed to ensure that the work had been carried out to the specification. Caley, Craig and Simon then all returned to site and conducted a walk around of the property with the Chair of the committee and the Scheme Manager, who were both suitably impressed by how it looked and the way that the work was carried out. So, it was all set for the contract proper to start.

Blessed with good weather over the entire contract period, the works started at pace and continued likewise for the next 8 weeks. Over that time weekly visits were made to residents and committee members alike to ensure that there were no issues. Caley and Craig were also in weekly contact with the Scheme Manager to garner feedback from the residents of completed properties, and a coffee morning was set up by Whittle where residents were invited for cakes and a chat in an informal atmosphere.

The praise for Simon and his team of decorators and the contract management was emphatic. Resident Satisfaction Forms were all coming back with either ‘Satisfied’ or ‘Highly Satisfied’, with Craig Dainty receiving a special note for all of his hard work.

On completion of the contract a final meeting with the committee, Scheme Manager, client and Whittle was set up, where the final thanks and praise were offered. Everybody was delighted with the finished product, and it was a nice surprise to see that the committee had written a letter of commendation saying that they would have no hesitation in recommending Whittle for further works. The Scheme Manager also took the time to write an email of thanks to Elizabeth Hankinson expressing how she felt the contact went.