EHN Award Winners 2023: Empty Homes Practitioner of the Year, sponsored by No Use Empty: Kent

Presented at our annual Conference in May, the EHN Awards serve to recognise and celebrate the work that empty homes officers, team and practitioners do on a daily basis, and enable them to promote their successes through national recognition. This year was no different, with some incredible examples of projects, case studies and people, who have displayed fantastic attributes to bring empty homes back into use in their areas.

The Empty Property Practitioner of the Year award, sponsored by No Use Empty Kent, celebrates an individual’s personal achievements, successes and determination to make their service the best it can be, and in themselves and their service in order to make huge differences in their local areas.

On being highly commended in this award category, Oliver Denton of Caerphilly County Borough Council was described as…

“Despite having limited experience in the field of Empty Homes, Oliver has taken to the challenge of developing the empty homes service through the implementation of Caerphilly’s action plan, furthering the authority’s enforcement framework, and having successfully applied for a number of warrants.

Not one to shy away from the challenge, Oliver has admirably progressed cases through negotiation, and his motto of ‘doing nothing is not an option’, is one that many an empty homes officer, and local authority can remember and relate to.

On winning this year’s Empty Homes Practitioner of the Year Award, the panel said of Daniel Newman, from Babergh & Mid Suffolk Councils….

”Following on from Daniel’s success in winning the ‘Rising Star’ award last year, it is abundantly clear that this achievement has been a key driver in taking his approach, and that of the local authority’s empty homes service to the next level, through the inception of  Houses4Homes.

With a focus on developing and delivering the service across two local authorities, Daniel has shown that by thinking creatively and by working in collaboration with a range of stakeholders internally and externally, that an established empty homes service can be enhanced further with the creation of the Houses4Homes delivery model. Taking the lead on the project is a huge undertaking, especially when considering the support required to seek approval through the appropriate channels, but this has been achieved through sheer determination to succeed.

Daniel’s passion, dedication and drive, will undoubtedly serve as a solid foundation for the certain success of the model, and is deserving and worthy winner of this year’s Empty Homes Practitioner of The Year Award’

Congratulations to Oliver and Daniel on their achievements and awards this year, which, following their efforts, hard work and passion to improve their service areas, is thoroughly deserved.