Stafford and Rural Homes shortlisted for the ‘Housing Heroes’ Awards

Stafford and Rural Homes  has been shortlisted from more than 300 entries to the national Housing Heroes Awards.

SARH is one of five housing associations that make up the New Generation Procurement Group which entered the awards to showcase the innovative way in which its members are helping to save their customers money.

The Group is now one of six left in the running for the title of Procurement Team of the Year, as SARH Chief Executive Karen Armitage explained: “The five organisations have been working together for some time, sharing knowledge and information. This has now led to us looking at the way we procure external services such as insurance, recruitment and legal expertise, and stationery and supplies.

“By working together and combining our purchasing power, we have already saved thousands of pounds, savings that we aim to re-invest into improved services, advice and training opportunities for our customers. We’re very excited that this hard work may now result in national recognition.”

The Housing Heroes Awards are organised by Inside Housing magazine and the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH). They were launched this year to shine the spotlight on the people and teams that are doing great work in the affordable housing sector.

The winners will be revealed at a glittering awards ceremony at London’s Hilton Hotel on 10 June. The ceremony will be hosted by TV presenter and former politician Michael Portillo. The awards are being sponsored by Tribal, Construction Skills and Campbell Tickell.

Steve Benson, the President of the CIH said there were some amazing people working in the housing sector. “Our sector spends a great deal of time talking about policy and strategy, business plans and budgets, our visions and our mission statements. Of course all of these things are really important. But in my experience it is the extraordinary people that do fantastic work for our customers that make the real difference. So I want to congratulate every finalist for getting this far in these awards. It was extremely tightly contested, and I look forward to helping to unveil the eventual winners in June.”

Inside Housing’s events director Ted Stevens said: “All the finalists have done brilliantly in getting this far. Well done to Stafford and Rural Homes and the New Generation Group for getting short-listed. The competition was really fierce with well over 50 entries in some categories.”