Last year we launched our Bromford Strategy 2023 to 2027 which committed us to becoming a place-based organisation. To do this we will need to transform the way we work to ensure we focus on the diverse needs of our customers and communities. 

 

We’re trialling this new way of place-based working in four very different communities across our operating area, starting with Staple Hill, a high-density urban area in South Gloucestershire. It was chosen for the pilot due to its high demand for housing services, social challenges, and diverse housing stock, including ageing high-rise flats, bungalows, and an independent living scheme.

Place-based working - The Staple Hill Pilot

In August we put a cross-functional team of 16 colleagues together, comprising neighbourhood coaches, engineers and landscapers among others to work together in Staple Hill. The team have been given the flexibility to experiment with new approaches to working together that best suits both them and the community and have been empowered to ensure issues are responded to and resolved as quickly as possible, without having to escalate everything to a leader.  

 

Place Team Leader Angela Manson said: “The problem we are trying to resolve is customers feeling that Bromford doesn’t care, that they are chasing us all the time and that we’re not responding. But now we have a team that are committed and passionate about the pilot, who are on site and embedded in that community, and can talk to each other to resolve things quickly.” 

 

In just eight weeks both colleagues and customers are already starting to see promising benefits to place-based working. By having three engineers responsible for all repairs in the area, it means that they get to know customers and their circumstances better. 

“We’d have different repairs guys each time and we’d have to go through the whole thing with them each time, but now we’re seeing a lot more of the same people. They come in and they’ll talk to my son, and say ‘Hi dude, how are you?"

Harley Makepeace

Staple Hill resident

Fellow resident Sky Oakes-Nash added: “I’m very hopeful that things will really develop and get much better than they have been. I think this is the way forward. I think it’s a big improvement and the future is looking so much brighter because of place-based working.” 

 

With the Staple Hill pilot up and running, we’re now preparing to launch the three other pilot schemes in Lichfield, Moreton-in-Marsh, and South Staffordshire. We’ve already had some glimpses of what it could become but the true impact of place-based working and how it can improve community engagement, operational efficiency and allow us to provide a better service to our customers will be realised over time, as we continue to learn from the pilots, refine the approach and roll it out to even more areas.