Amber Valley Housing Ltd

AVHL Repair Team

CLIENT ASSIGNMENT:

Business Start-up and Strategy Development

Duration: 3 Years

Location: Ripley, Derbyshire

EiB Role:

Management Consultants and Trainers

Project Overview:

Amber Valley Housing Limited (AVHL) was established following a voluntary housing stock transfer by Amber Valley Borough Council.  The new company was created to provide quality, affordable housing for the local community.  The new chief executive aspired to create an organisation that valued how they treated each other; focused on their customers and partners; encouraged innovation; worked in an open and honest way; strived for excellence; and created an environment that was stimulating and vibrant.

Excellence in Business were commissioned to support the company start-up by designing, developing and implementing the organisation's key business processes including, corporate and service planning; performance management; their approach to balanced business scorecard; management and employee development; and quality management & assurance.  We worked extensively with the board and senior management team in developing the company's first two corporate plans, and with service managers to cascade this into annual service plans.

AVHL embraced our support whole-heartedly and stated in their 2008 Annual Report "Performance is well managed and has improved in key service areas, comparing favourably to other organisations. AVHL can demonstrate a strong track record in delivering improvements that customers would notice, and has delivered, or is on target to deliver, the promises made to tenants as part of the stock transfer agreement". One of the tools we introduced to AVHL as part of our support was TEN Performance Manager, which again they systematically embedded. In support of this, the report states "The TEN IT system for performance management is extensively used by AVHL. It is used for service plans and performance management effectively capturing all the activities and planned improvements for the organisation. It provides information which is open and transparent, and easily accessible at a number of levels, preventing the need for further explanatory reports to explain issues. It is also allowing the performance management arrangements and reporting systems to be almost paperless. For other organisations using the TEN system and wishing to extend or maximise its use, the way in which it is used by AVHL is well worth exploring".

Project Outcomes/Impact: 

1. 100% of managers trained were either very satisfied or satisfied with the training we provided;
2. Key business processes were implemented, embedded and valued by managers at all levels;
3. The successful transition to a group structure   
4. AVHL were assessed by the Housing Corporation as 'Good' and likely to improve

CONSULTANCY SERVICE LINKS:

CONSULTANT LINKS: