Lovell takes resident liaison training to new levels

Housing regeneration and refurbishment specialist Lovell has joined forces with Intec Business Colleges plc to roll out NVQ training for its resident liaison team in the Midlands.

The company’s resident liaison team plays a key role in the many large-scale housing refurbishment programmes which Lovell carries out for housing associations and local authorities. With residents frequently continuing to live in their homes during the building work, the company’s resident liaison officers act as their main point of contact. They help people understand what the refurbishment process will involve, the choices available to them and make sure they are happy at every stage.

In the Midlands, Lovell worked with Intec to create a tailor-made training programme for its highly valued resident liaison team.

“We were looking for a qualification to recognise the skills of our liaison officers and the Customer Service Level 3 NVQ was the best match. Importantly, it was also flexible which meant we could adapt it to our needs. The NVQ programme allows our resident liaison officers to gain nationally-recognised qualifications and also demonstrates to our clients that our staff have been trained to a recognised standard,” explained Clare Hall, Lovell Regional Training Advisor.

Sandra Shiner, Resident Liaison Co-Ordinator, has been completing her NVQ and she explained the benefits. “The RLO role is quite unusual and the tutor was very helpful in tweaking the units to fit in with what we do on a day-to-day basis. I really enjoyed working towards the NVQ and it made me realise how many different elements are involved in my job. Having to demonstrate my communication skills by delivering a presentation and my numeracy skills by completing a maths test felt a little daunting but overall, it has actually made me more confident in my abilities.”

“Working with Intec has been great, I receive information on the progress of the members of our team on a regular basis and the training isn’t too time-consuming for them. I’m really pleased with the way it is going and we have now extended the training to ten members of the resident liaison and customer care team in our North West region who have also started the NVQ programme,” added Clare Hall.