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At the heart of every success in estate redevelopment and
regeneration is our community development team. Higgins has
one of the largest community and resident liaison teams in
London and the South East, with 18 dedicated officers currently
based on our projects.
They bring unrivalled experience of working closely with residents
in 'live' environments, be it for occupied refurbishment or
new-build with an existing neighbour interface.
We invest so much into our team because effective and professional
resident consultation and communication is vital to achieving
project objectives.
Over the past 10 years, we have developed the resident liaison
function from a 'bolt-on' activity into a genuine career path,
where a trainee officer can progress through a structured
department to resident liaison officer, senior resident liaison
officer and ultimately community development officer or site
management.
Resident communication takes the form of meet-the-team events,
regular surgeries, home visits and newsletters. As well as
this vital communication, the officers are also responsible
for resident issues management, local school liaison, local
employment initiatives and residents' choice.
"I've worked as a Resident Liaison Officer for other
companies, but no other has treated this job as professionally
as Higgins."
Karen Kearney,
Resident Liaison Officer
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Name: Michael Brown
Lewisham CRS introduced Michael to Higgins as a
trainee carpenter in May 1998, when a career path was
mapped out to help him fulfill his determination to work
in construction.
Michael shadowed a Resident Liaison Officer (RLO) and
Site Agent for six months on our £11 million regeneration
of Milton Court, to develop his skills in communication,
the construction process and site management. Higgins
also honoured Michael's commitments to carpentry studies
with leave and day-release.
On completion, Michael was employed as a Resident Liaison
Officer on the company's largest partnering project for
the regeneration of the Pollards Hill estate in South
London, with the aim of developing even further to enable
him to apply for site management opportunities.
Having excelled over nine months in the Resident Liaison
team responsible for residents of 1,000 homes, Michael
was subsequently rewarded with promotion to Site Foreman
on the same project.
In Michael's first year as the Site Foreman, he is playing
a key role in the project's success - which is running
two years ahead of schedule. Michael has also groomed
a new RLO to take over where he left off.
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