North West housing association commits to staff development

Philip Thompson, a capital delivery manager at Onward Homes, shares how investing in their staff is helping retain the best talent and bridge skills gaps.

Onward Homes is a housing association in the North West of England, with a workforce of over 800 and divisions covering Lancashire, Greater Manchester, and Merseyside.

Established in April 2018, Onward Homes brought together several existing housing associations within the region.

Currently, Philip Thompson has supported three degree apprentices to complete a BSc (Hons) Building Surveying Degree Apprenticeship at the University of Lancashire.

The first degree apprentice was Tracey O’Neill in 2018, who joined Onward Homes as a receptionist and administration assistant in 2015.

Philip said: “Tracey was working with us as a project coordinator, and we saw that spark in her. We try to invest in our team members, and we want to retain good staff, so we approached her and asked if she would be interested in doing a building surveying degree."

Tracey said: "At 45, doing a degree was quite scary. I'm very fortunate. I work for a company that has provided me with experiences to further my progress as I have worked through the degree."

Tracey was awarded the ‘Best Student in Building Surveying’ by the RICS North West Regional Board and secured a secondment as a Retrofit Assistant Project Manager after graduation.

Talking about her experience, Tracey said: “At 45, doing a degree was quite scary. I'm very fortunate. I work for a company that has provided me with experiences to further my progress as I have worked through the degree. Every step of the way they’ve encouraged me to get more involved, pushing me out of my comfort zone whilst supporting me.

Tracey added: “I found the labs really good. In the first couple of years, you do a lot of hands-on experiments, which really makes you understand how different components work, whether it be damp and mould, using a borescope for looking into the cavities, or mixing different kinds of cement and working out the ratios for different requirements and so on.”

Philip said: "It takes a lot of time from them, but the benefits outweigh that. You could have them for the next 20 to 30 years: they're potential MRICS (Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors).

“We do struggle to get building surveyors and quantity surveyors that we need. People just don't really know what housing associations are doing and what they're about. We spend millions of pounds a year, and people don't seem to realise that there is an option there, that they can come and work in housing.”

Philip recommends Degree Apprenticeships to other employers.

He said: “It takes a lot of time from them, but the benefits outweigh that. You could have them for the next twenty to thirty years: they're potential MRICS, they have the full degree behind them, you know that you can trust them, and you know they're going to provide professional service and do an excellent job.”

A commitment to Degree Apprenticeships is part of Onward Homes long-term plan: “I've got a succession plan through the whole team. I’ll always seek to get people trained up to degree level.”