ASSET Management Officer Sarah Occleshaw had never heard of housing associations when she first arrived at White Horse Housing on an apprenticeship in 2017 – now she is an integral part of the operation.
She may have begun life as an apprentice housing assistant but now her role is the glue which holds the back office operation together. “If I left it would take about three months to replace me,” says Maintenance Manager Darrel Smith. “If Sarah left I’ve no idea how long it would take because she is so unique in that she is involved in everything.”
As well as liaising with tenants over repairs, she oversees maintenance programmes, certificates, legal compliances and work schedules and gets involved with contractors and other partners but she insists she is just part of a team effort.
“It’s such a good team and we all work well together,” she says. “I’ve learnt so much from everybody here. I’m lucky because it is a relatively small organisation that I’ve been able to get involved in everything.
“When I started here I knew nothing about housing or even what a housing association was but as I’ve progressed from a housing assistant to a housing officer when I completed my qualifications the nature of my job has changed and I’ve gone more towards the housing side.
Having completed Level 3 and 4 in housing, as well as qualifying as an energy assessor, she is now studying a two-year Level 4 qualification is Asset Management with the Chartered Institute of Housing. It will equip her further to manage the association’s maintenance programme.
She has already played a part in revolutionise the way it manages its 430 homes by working with colleagues to centralise thousands of pages of records held on spreadsheets so that anyone can look at an individual home and see its complete record of maintenance and repairs, upgrades and compliance certificates.
“It was a six months of work by all of the team but it means our service for the tenants is even better because anyone can go on to a property record and see the entire history of what has been done there since 2016.”
She jokes with Chief Executive Steve Warran that her job title changes every year but she says she still enjoys every minute. “I enjoy the variety and never feeling that asking a question is wrong,” she said. “Although I've got qualifications, I'm still learning – every day is a learning day.”