Legally owned by its members Watford Community Housing Trust really does put tenants at the heart of everything it does and supporting community involvement is essential to its success

As the first housing trust in the south to be founded on the principles of a community gateway, it is making its way in unchartered territory but the journey so far has been positive and the trust was able to start its improvement programme on time and on target.

The Trust took on the housing stock of Watford Borough Council in a Large Scale Voluntary Transfer last September and now has 1,882 members and a housing stock of circa 4,700 homes.

Tenant involvement is key to its success of and as well as its members collectively being the legal owners, tenants are heavily involved in every stage of the decision-making process.

The 15-strong board includes seven tenant members.

"What really makes us different is we have got a 30-strong gateway committee and any decisions come through them and then on to board", says Peter Sharman, Director of Asset management.

The Trust also has two tenant-led working groups - the Improvement Working Group and the Repairs Working Group.

Like most other housing associations the Trust is working towards delivering a home improvement programme, but what sets it apart from the others is the degree of tenant participation.

It has pledged to spend £66million to implement the Watford Quality Standard, which is higher than the Government's Decent Homes Standard, by 2012.

Tenants have taken a leading role in the procurement route, which has been critical to ensuring the success of the improvement programme.

Throughout the process the Trust has met four out of the five key recommendations for housing associations from the Audit Commission and Housing Corporation's Better Buys report, of February 2008.

The Trust identified the gaps in its procurement skills, appointing Echelon Consultancy after a presentation to the tenant working group.

Fulfilling the second recommendation of collecting information from the market before considering procurement options the Trust sent out a questionnaire about what makes a good /bad client to constructors, receiving comprehensive answers from each.

The report also advises considering and evaluating all models of collaboration for achieving greater efficiency, a route which the Trust will follow with the creation of a consortia to deliver a central purchasing body.

Sharman says: "Although it is work in progress it has been one of the key drivers behind the procurement process for getting a better value solution for Watford and its residents."

And finally the Trust has been successful in ensuring that residents are involved in and have appropriate opportunities to influence the procurement processes, which Sharman says: "has been fundamental to the success of the procurement exercise".

Constructors Mears and Mulalley were chosen to carry out the home improvement programme following a two-stage selection process, led by tenants, who contributed to drafting the questions for a pre-qualification questionnaire, which were then evaluated by a tenant led team, including some staff.

A tender list of constructors was drawn up and an evaluation team of six tenants and five staff visited reference sites across the country to monitor if the constructors were delivering for clients.

"It was very intense and after each visit the representatives had to complete an evaluation form on site", says Sharman, "The beauty of the process for me was that there was no differentiation between tenant representatives and staff representatives."

During the visits they looked at completed kitchens and bathrooms and spoke to clients and tenants about service delivery.

The final stage was for a technical team and tenant team to interview the constructors.

"After the process we got a call from one of the unsuccessful contractors who was very impressed with the whole procurement process and overwhelmed by the degree of tenant involvement," says Sharman.

Tenant involvement did not stop with the procurement process and tenant members were invited to vote for their preferred choice of a range of fixtures such as worktops, taps and wall tiles, to be used in the improvement programme.

As a result of the consultation process the Trust is offering a huge choice to tenants, who can pick from six types of worktop, four styles of drawers and door fronts, eight non-slip floor coverings, 22 wall tile colours and the full colour range from Dulux paint.

The improvement programme started on 2 June and the Trust will be delivering 2,500 kitchens and 1,900 bathrooms as well as reducing the backlog of repairs.

Tenant representatives have spent over 900 hours on the programme, travelling more than 4,000 miles but they won't be hanging up their boots just yet - the Trust is organising site visits to members of the key supply chain. And it will be pushing ahead with improvements to the wider community with a £9million estate regeneration programme - part of its community empowerment strategy.

It will also continue to work closely with the BRE on the issue of sustainability and is looking to adopt some of the practices put forward for the new code for sustainable homes in to the refurbishment of homes. It is keen
to reduce its carbon footprint and recognises that sustainability is not only about the environmental green agenda but also about the social and economic aspect.

It has not all been plain sailing along the way, and there have been challenges, with the community gateway model throwing up many trials for constructors.

"One of the key challenges has been to deliver a procurement programme with tenant involvement of this scope and size, on time, and we are very proud to have done that. It was no mean feat and I applaud the amount of effort that has gone in from everyone involved in the project."

But despite the challenges the Trust has made great strides in its bid to improve life for the communities in Watford and is on target to achieve its goal to "deliver better homes and friendlier communities together."