The winners of the Empty Homes Awards 2013 were announced at our Conference in Birmingham at a ceremony sponsored by Grafton UK Ltd.
The judging panel consisted of Mark Byrne (Grafton UK Ltd.), Andrew Lavender (Consultant/Kent County Council), Matt Smith (Birmingham City Council and EHN Chair) and Carson Millican (Independent Empty Homes Practitioner). As previously, the standard of submissions was high and the Panel was not unanimous in its views. The job was also bigger than in previous years because there were two awards not one.
Empty Homes Practitioner of the Year Award 2013
This award was sponsored by Grafton UK Ltd.
Highly commended
The Panel adjudged Adam Cliff of Peterborough City Council to be worthy of a Highly Commended award. Although relatively new to the Council, having joined in July 2011, he had at that point already written a dissertation on empty homes as part of his degree so he hit the ground running.
Adam raised the profile of empty homes work significantly both inside the Council and via media appearances with the general public. The awards submission praised him for his "passion, drive, enthusiasm and tenacity" and noted that the number of long term empty homes had dropped to 349 on March 31st 2013 from 592 when he started work. Always alert to the value of partnerships and the need to explore funding opportunites he helped a local charity make a successful bid under the Community Grants Programme whilst helping secure HCA capital for a consortium that included Peterborough itself a neighbouring authority and a housing association.
The submission also noted:
Peterborough City Council has recognised Adam’s achievements and commitment and is currently consulting with two neighbouring authorities for Adam to provide a training and overseeing role for their Empty Homes Officers and to share best practice of our processes and procedures.
Adam (left) receives his "Highly Commended" Award from Mark Byrne
Winner
Adam received considerable support from Derby's empty homes team when he was writing his dissertation at Derby University. So it was fitting that the outright winner and Empty Homes Practitioner of the Year 2013 should be Tony Briggs, Empty Homes Manager at Derby City Council (pictured at the top of this story).
Tony has been in post for several years now and has built up and enviable track record at Derby that encompasses just about everything that you can imagine an empty homes practitioner getting involved with - from Enforced Sales to CPOs. He too has been successful in supporting and engineering bids to the various government grant programmes.
The local loans programme has also been a success, with the submission noting:
Properties returned to use in 2012/13 as a result of loans awarded in 2011/12, include some that had been empty for more than 10 years and had been subjected to vandalism and squatting.
Debt recovery has also featured in Tony's portfolio. He helped recover £37,000 owed to the council in council tax and care home charges via his empty homes work.
Most Innovative Intervention of the Year Award 2013
This was a new award sponsored by Carson Millican, an Independent Empty Homes Practitioner who (amongst other things) provides services to the London Boroughs of Islington and Barking and Dagenham. We're very grateful to Carson for inaugurating this award which we hope will continue in future years.
The submissions overlapped to some extent with the Practitioner of the Year Award and it is of course hard to distinguish a particular intervention from the person responsible for it. In this case the Panel agreed that Dan Thorning and Plymouth City Council (where Dan works) were jointly very worthy winners of this award for a Voluntary Sale scheme that has resulted in several homes being brought back into use already with more in the pipeline.
Although the idea of match-making is not new, it does seem as though Plymouth has taken the process to a new level and made it more transparent and accessible, developing a formal procedure that spells out exactly what's involved and who does what when. The Council holds keys to the property, arranges viewings and accepts sealed bids on behalf of the owner - effectively playing the part of an estate agent but without charging fees. The procedure was developed in 2011 and was formalised in October 2012.
Whilst this is a Plymouth procedure, and Thelma Cunningham, Empty Homes Manager has played a significant role, Thelma was also clear that Dan Thorning took the lead in promoting and developing the scheme and should be accorded individual credit.
We'll be providing full details of the scheme shortly by loading the Plymouth procedures into our Information Library and featuring the relevant interventions in our forthcoming CaseStudy section of the website (for Full Members only).
Dan (left) receives award from Carson
The Empty Homes Awards Ceremony 2013
Sponsored by Grafton UK Ltd.
The Empty Homes Conference 2013
Sponsored by Ad Hoc Property Management Ltd.
Adam (left) receives his "Highly Commended" Award from Mark Byrne
Winner
Adam received considerable support from Derby's empty homes team when he was writing his dissertation at Derby University. So it was fitting that the outright winner and Empty Homes Practitioner of the Year 2013 should be Tony Briggs, Empty Homes Manager at Derby City Council (pictured at the top of this story).
Tony has been in post for several years now and has built up and enviable track record at Derby that encompasses just about everything that you can imagine an empty homes practitioner getting involved with - from Enforced Sales to CPOs. He too has been successful in supporting and engineering bids to the various government grant programmes.
The local loans programme has also been a success, with the submission noting:
Properties returned to use in 2012/13 as a result of loans awarded in 2011/12, include some that had been empty for more than 10 years and had been subjected to vandalism and squatting.
Debt recovery has also featured in Tony's portfolio. He helped recover £37,000 owed to the council in council tax and care home charges via his empty homes work.
Most Innovative Intervention of the Year Award 2013
This was a new award sponsored by Carson Millican, an Independent Empty Homes Practitioner who (amongst other things) provides services to the London Boroughs of Islington and Barking and Dagenham. We're very grateful to Carson for inaugurating this award which we hope will continue in future years.
The submissions overlapped to some extent with the Practitioner of the Year Award and it is of course hard to distinguish a particular intervention from the person responsible for it. In this case the Panel agreed that Dan Thorning and Plymouth City Council (where Dan works) were jointly very worthy winners of this award for a Voluntary Sale scheme that has resulted in several homes being brought back into use already with more in the pipeline.
Although the idea of match-making is not new, it does seem as though Plymouth has taken the process to a new level and made it more transparent and accessible, developing a formal procedure that spells out exactly what's involved and who does what when. The Council holds keys to the property, arranges viewings and accepts sealed bids on behalf of the owner - effectively playing the part of an estate agent but without charging fees. The procedure was developed in 2011 and was formalised in October 2012.
Whilst this is a Plymouth procedure, and Thelma Cunningham, Empty Homes Manager has played a significant role, Thelma was also clear that Dan Thorning took the lead in promoting and developing the scheme and should be accorded individual credit.
We'll be providing full details of the scheme shortly by loading the Plymouth procedures into our Information Library and featuring the relevant interventions in our forthcoming CaseStudy section of the website (for Full Members only).
Dan (left) receives award from Carson
The Empty Homes Awards Ceremony 2013
Sponsored by Grafton UK Ltd.
The Empty Homes Conference 2013
Sponsored by Ad Hoc Property Management Ltd.