Wigan Council are committed to creating sustainable communities and improving the quality and energy efficiency of the council housing stock - your home, which in turn may help save you money on your energy bills.
Details about the Asset Management Teams planned programmes for both our current and future planned programmes of work.
Planned Maintenance (Cyclical Maintenance)
We currently undertake external property repairs on a five year cycle. The range of works included in this programme will depend on the condition of your home, we will carry out a survey to find out what work is needed before work commences. Work might include:
- External pointing
- Lintel replacement
- Brickwork repairs
- External joinery repairs, such as a replacement front / rear door
- Roof repairs
- Repairs to outbuildings
- Repairs / replacement rainwater goods, such as gutters and rainwater pipes
- Repairs to soffit and facia boards
- Internal communal areas to flats may also receive decoration works and upgrades
- Repairs to estate fencing and walls
- Mop up driveways - these are properties where tenants chose not to have a driveway on an earlier scheme.
Energy Performance Certificates
An energy performance certificate is carried out prior to a property being let or before a mutual exchange if we do not have an up-to-date certificate, this provides the new tenant with the energy efficiency of the property in a clear, transparent and universal way.
An energy assessor will record details of a property’s key attributes including:
- Property type
- Age and construction type
- Size and location e.g. ground floor, mid floor, top floor if a flat
- Detachment e.g. detached, semi-detached, terraced
- Heating type
- Glazing
- Loft and wall insulation
- Low energy lighting
- Presence of photovoltaic cells.
Surveyors are required to take pictures to evidence their findings. The actual assessment takes approximately an hour to complete, but it could vary depending on the size of your home.
Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund
Wigan Council are committed to ensuring that our customers live in homes that are not only warm, good quality and safe but are also energy efficient and environmentally friendly.
We have been successful in securing grant funding from the social housing decarbonisation fund of up to £1.9 million to help deliver a range of energy efficient improvement works to several groups of bungalows and blocks of flats.
Stock Condition Survey
The government has introduced carbon emissions reduction targets for all social housing providers to achieve. Our aim and focus is to enhance the energy efficiency of our least performing homes for energy efficiency by installing retro fit energy saving measures which will make them not only more sustainable but could also mean they are more cost-effective to run.
To help achieve this we will be procuring a new stock condition survey that will survey the full council housing stock over a 5-year rolling programme.
We are also procuring an asset management system which will allow us to actively manage, maintain and use our data within a centralised system with supporting data.
The collection of stock condition data from surveys will be fed into the asset management system which will help the Asset Management Team to make investment decisions driven by evidence and data, supporting the delivery of the installation of energy efficient measures and refurbishment work across the borough that achieves value for money and intended outcomes.
Asbestos checks and advice
Before work commences at your home we will need to identify if there are any asbestos materials present. If asbestos is suspected to be present at your home and in the vicinity of the work area a check will be carried out to see if we hold any relevant information about the suspected material. If we don’t then an asbestos survey will be ordered and carried out to identify exactly what the suspect material is.
If needed the material will be removed by a fully licensed asbestos removal contractor.
Further information can be found on Asbestos in a council home.
Customer Charter
All contractors follow the planned works customer charter, we understand that improvements can be accompanied by temporary disruption, but we want to assure you that your comfort and satisfaction are our top priorities. We work very closely with our partnering contractors who all employ resident liaison officers to aid in the smooth delivery of our planned works.
They must:
- Ensure good communications are established from the outset, customers receive a leaflet that explains what is going to happen and the sequence of events including contact telephone numbers of both contractor and Council
- Security must always be adhered to; identification badges must be shown on the first point of contact with the customer and be worn
- Treat the customer and home with courtesy and respect and always use dust sheets
- No smoking in customers’ homes or within the curtilage of their garden
- No radios to be used (unless the customer gives permission)
- Remove any rubbish generated by work activity at the end of each day
- If you do not know the answer to the customer's query, offer to find someone who does
- Be genuinely happy to help, let customers know what will happen next
- Do not use offensive language
- Report any issues of any concern and be willing to complete an incident form should any unacceptable behaviour be encountered
- Provide a manufacturer’s instruction booklet for each resident and a short version if available. (will be dependent on works delivered)
- A handover visit with the resident to ensure they are satisfied with the completed work and obtain signed completion form
- On completion of the installation and after handover the contractor will be expected to carry out a customer satisfaction form based on a template supplied by Wigan Council.