Tenants get the chance to take up Hillcrest roles for Scottish Housing Day
Last Wednesday was Scottish Housing Day, which celebrates the positive impact that good quality affordable housing can have on people’s lives.
To celebrate the day and give an insight into what goes on behind the scenes here at Hillcrest, we decided to open the office door to tenants and have them join our teams!
Here’s what they got up to!
Lee from Edinburgh – shadowed the Communications and Media Team:
Lee met Ross and Rebecca from Hillcrest’s Communications and Media team, and during the time she spent with them got an in depth look at how various publications such as the tenant newsletter are created. Lee was shown the applications they use and even some of the previous publications to compare to the recent documents they have produced.
Lee said: “I loved seeing the differences in the styles of publications. The software used to create the newsletter – Adobe InDesign – was one I hadn’t heard of before. Since the meeting I’ve looked into InDesign further and I’m really impressed with what it can do.
“Ross and Rebecca also took me through the new Hillcrest Energy Advice Team (HEAT) activity book that was recently created for children. The drawings of the HEAT heroes, using Adobe Illustrator was incredible. I knew you could use special software to draw but I didn’t know just what it could do in terms of rendering and refining your artwork. It really makes the activity book stand out and it’s a genius way to help kids learn about saving energy in the home too.
“I was also able to help plan the winter 2019 tenants’ newsletter by offering valuable tenant feedback and suggesting articles to be included. Ross and Rebecca noted that this feedback and the ideas I offered are valuable in helping make the tenants newsletter as easy to read and informative as possible. I really enjoyed the session. It’s given me a better understanding of the procedures of creating publications and I cannot wait to help more in future publications.”
Lorna from Perth – shadowed a Perth and Kinross and Fife Housing Officer:
Lorna met with Housing Officer Charlotte from Hillcrest’s Perth housing office. Lorna was taken to a new Hillcrest development in Kinross and shown around before heading to our large development in Glenrothes. Lorna joined Charlotte in taking part in some basic estate management, and helped check that information was up to date on tenant noticeboards.
Charlotte said: “Lorna was a really nice woman, and she enjoyed coming along and helping out with some of tasks we do at various housing developments.”
Right: Lorna pictured at Brodie Court, Glenrothes inspecting the development notice board and making sure the information is up to date.
Your views, opinions and ideas can help us improve our services for all our tenants. We have a range of voluntary positions available from our tenant scrutiny group, through to our tenant newsletter reader group. If you are a Hillcrest Homes tenant and would like to get involved, then phone 0300 123 2640, or email customerservice@hillcrest.org.uk.