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Affordable housing provider SO Resi, the shared ownership arm of housing association Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing, has appointed its Group Head of Sales, Kevin Sims, into the newly created role of Director of Sales & Marketing. The new position forms part of SO Resi’s ongoing mission to inform and educate the market on shared ownership, where Kevin will be responsible for leading SO Resi’s sales and marketing function across the UK. Kevin, who joined SO Resi in the summer of 2019, has a 35-year-long

Dozens of elite cyclists have enjoyed ‘home from home’ serviced accommodation at The Stay Company in Derby. Team bosses at British Cycling say the open-plan luxury apartments and self-contained flats provided the ‘perfect base’ for cyclists and have revealed that Derby could become a ‘second home’ to the British Cycling squad. A 140-stong team took up a seven-month residency at Derby Arena’s velodrome ahead of the Commonwealth Games last year. They announced plans to stay in Derby when the National Cyclin

FirstPort has been recognised for its commitment to health and safety, receiving the ISO 45001 certification and a Five-Star grading for the seventh consecutive year in the British Safety Council’s Occupational Health and Safety audit.   With a score of 94%, the British Safety Council’s Five Star Occupational Health and Safety Audit demonstrates FirstPort’s commitment towards the continual improvement of all areas of wellbeing and health and safety practices.   This includes occupational health, employee

The Property Redress Scheme (PRS), now the largest lettings redress scheme with over 13,250 letting agency branches covered, recently held their first advisory panel meeting and asked for applications for their new member panel.  In 2022, the PRS dealt with approximately 2,000 complaints from tenants, landlords, property buyers and sellers and awarded nearly £850,000 in compensation to consumers in early resolutions and scheme decisions. To strengthen its governance and accountability, the PRS decided to

Property Management Recruitment have published an insightful pack on the trends occurring across packages for staff working in the private Leasehold sector. The document sets out key information such as salary ranges, perks that employees are seeking and how interview processes need to be adjusted to meet new employment trends. The report has already been downloaded over 1,000 times.  For a copy of the pack reach out to Annie McGrandles FIRPM MRICS annie.mcgrandles@pmr.uk.com

Long-standing and reputable estate agent, Romans, is making progressive business advancements thanks to an innovative and specialist lead management, automation, and phone answering platform.  Following a successful trial, Romans has started to launch Agent Response across all 250 of its branches.  Agent Response is a revolutionary software system designed specifically for the Sales and Lettings industry. It aims to generate potential custom, pre-quality leads, and improve the efficiencies of administrati

Future Security were invited to provide a solution for the front door security upgrade work for Nexus Apartments, a modern block in a sought-after location close to the Shard, the Tate Modern and Borough Market. We selected IPGUARD and Warrior Doors to provide their equipment. The existing door was topped by an unfinished plywood panel and the handle was breaking as residents struggled to open it. The slim line top fixed maglock was vulnerable to break ins and there was zero visibility due to a lack of gl

The use of smart building technology within BTR is increasing rapidly. There are now apps for residents and property staff to arrange virtual tours, lease an apartment, access and manage amenities, utilities and far more, all from their smartphone. So, although all these apps are valuable, the volume of solutions required to manage these can become overwhelming, and collectively reduce the benefits they bring.  Smart technology provides data which is key to gaining a deeper understanding of resident behav

Leading managing agent Rendall & Rittner has appointed Jo Dowsett as Head of Quality. This newly created role at Rendall & Rittner has been designed to develop strategies, processes, and policies that will ensure the business is delivering the highest quality of service to all customers, both internally and externally. With 17 years of experience at Rendall & Rittner, Jo has seen the company grow from a small office in Wapping, East London to managing over 80,000 residential properties nationally. Startin

Plentific, the property management cloud-based platform for social housing and private housing providers, has won the Transformational Business Award category of the highly respected UK PropTech Awards, hosted by the United Kingdom PropTech Association (UKPA). Plentific offers real estate owners and property managers repairs, building safety and compliance, inspections, supply chain management and resident engagement solutions through a central portal. Sammy Pahal, the Managing Director of the UKPA said:

We are delighted to announce that News on the Block and Jackson Sims Recruitment will be working in partnership once again to bring you the Unsung Heroes feature 2023 to celebrate those within the leasehold property industry who have gone the extra mile.  Now in its third year, the award has seen us celebrate professionals from across the property industry, allowing their special efforts or exceptional performance to be acknowledged.  We are happy to announce that we are now accepting nominations for the

The fight, which took place at the Leicester Tigers Stadium in Leicester, was spectated by around 600 people and Dane was able to win the fight in the third round with a knockout. With a weigh-in of 81kg, Dane was fighting in the middle weight competition, and has been able to raise over £1,700 in sponsorships for his chosen charity. Dane said: “Cancer research UK is a charity I have always supported due to having relatives who have passed away due to cancer, so I jumped at the chance to raise additional