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National award for Salford woman helping residents on £650m regeneration scheme for Pendleton

A Salford woman working on a £650m regeneration scheme to refurbish 1,250 council homes in Pendleton has won a national housing industry award for supporting tenants during improvement work.

Jackie Donnelly, who works for social housing specialist Keepmoat Regeneration, was named Tenant/Resident Liaison Officer of the Year at the prestigious Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS) Awards at the Chesford Grange Hotel in Warwickshire.

Eccles born Jackie leads a team of six Keepmoat Regeneration resident liaison officers whose job is to support Salford’s resident in Pendleton as their homes are given makeovers including new kitchens and bathrooms and new heating systems.

Keepmoat Regeneration is currently working as part of the Pendleton Together Consortium which is creating 1,600 new energy efficient homes and new parks and open spaces in Pendleton as well as transforming 1,250 existing properties.

The TPAS awards recognise resident liaison officers who go the extra mile to support tenants and communities - and Jackie scooped the national prize after winning the regional northern heat in April.

Senior Resident Liaison Officer Jackie has proven immensely popular with housing tenants and has earned a reputation for being a second mum after carrying out extra jobs at their homes such as cleaning, putting up blinds, changing light bulbs, packing and unpacking belongings and even collecting the weekly shop for the elderly and infirm while work is taking place.

Jackie said: “I love my job so being recognised for doing something you love is amazing.

“My approach with residents is that I like to treat them like I would my own mum or my own gran so it’s like being a family member to them really.

“One of the key parts of the job is being able to identify vulnerable residents and being on hand to support them as much as possible. I want them all to feel safe and looked after.

“Being a local lass I’m proud to be part of a scheme that is improving Salford, but I couldn’t do it without an amazing team behind me. In many ways the award is recognition of the work of the tenant liaison team as a whole. All the officers go above and beyond the call of duty, carrying out errands and jobs for tenants to help make things easier for them and keep disruption to a minimum while work is being carried out. The team show immense passion and dedication to their job and their approach is caring and empathetic at all times.

“To win the regional heat in April was an amazing honour but to go on to win the national award is incredible!”

Paul Longshaw, Salford City Council’s Programmes Director for Pendleton Together, said: “The work Jackie and her team are carrying out every day on site is crucial to ensure that this part of the regeneration scheme runs smoothly but more importantly that people are really pleased with the improvements and the way that their homes have been transformed.”

For more information on the Pendleton Together project please visit pendeltontogether.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Chris Walker .