When we asked you to vote for our partnership with Cairn Housing Association we made some promises about what the partnership would mean for you. These were:
The partnership between Ancho and Cairn is now firmly established in both organisations, with a lot of work going on behind the scenes to ensure better value for money and equip our team to provide better services in our communities. We are facing challenges with the impact of coronavirus but the partnership with Cairn has given Ancho the strength and resilience to face the problems that lie ahead. We know there is much more to do, and in the year ahead we’ll be looking at how we can work together to provide better services to our tenants and other customers. We have completed the second year of the five year planned maintenance programme, with £1,159,962 spent on upgrades in 2019/20. These included:
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Ancho has celebrated their 20th anniversary at their 2020 annual general meeting, two years after tenants voted to become a subsidiary of the Cairn Housing Group.
Reflecting on the last year, Mary Black, Chair of the Ancho Board, said: “We have faced up to a challenging year as we responded to the national lockdown that put restrictions on our ability to provide housing services. Housing associations are not immune to the impact of Covid-19 and the benefits and support of our partnership with Cairn Housing Association are clearly showing. Being part of Cairn Housing Group has made both organisations more resilient to the challenges of this year and those that are still to come. In the year ahead, we will be looking at how we can further integrate operations and strengthen the bonds between our organisations, to plan for the best possible services to our communities.” Mary Black said, “The AGM gave an important opportunity to mark the retirement of Jackie Brown after 19 years’ dedicated service as a member of the Ancho Board. Jackie served as Vice Chair and Chair and her commitment and energy to the work of Ancho, including steering the Association into the partnership with Cairn, is very much appreciated and we wish Jackie well for the future. “Our Board are delighted to announce Bill Finlay’s election as Vice Chairperson. Bill brings many skills to Ancho from his career as a Chartered Accountant, where he provided audit, accounting, corporate governance, legal compliance and business advice to company boards and CEOs. Bill’s wealth of experience is a great asset to our team and I look forward to working with him in his new role on the Board.” Jason MacGilp, Chief Executive of Cairn Housing Group, said: The Ancho team has kept focus on service delivery in a challenging year. As part of the Cairn Housing Group we continued to roll out our five-year programme of improvements in Irvine, with £2.1m spent on upgrades including kitchens, roofs, windows and doors. Ancho tenants are also benefitting from a five-year rent guarantee as part of the partnership with Cairn, which offers reassurance of continued affordability at a time when every penny counts. “We are grateful to our team for their hard work and commitment during an incredibly difficult time for everyone, and the incredible support they’ve offered to our tenants in North Ayrshire.” Did you know that for just £1 you can become a shareholding member of Ancho?
Shareholding membership is open to anyone over the age of 16 that is a tenant, service user, or anyone who makes an active contribution to Ancho activities. As a member you can get involved and shape the future of the association by:
If you are interested, please get in touch with Carolyn Owens by emailing carolyn.owens@ancho.co.uk or by calling 0800 990 3405. We really want to involve tenants in a more meaningful way in how decisions are made. Traditionally this has always been about bringing tenants together in a room but with all the other pressures on people’s time, we struggle to get people to come along. We want to shake up how we do things and try something new, so we drafted a new Customer Involvement Strategy for how we see this working over the next three years.
We recently sent this draft strategy out for consultation and here are the results… What kind of involvement would you participate in? Completing surveys or questionnaires (online) 10 Estate walkabouts with staff to find improvements 8 Feedback about our publications 3 Focus groups or meetings in person 3 Scrutiny projects lasting one or two full days (in person) 3 Completing surveys or questionnaires (by post) 2 Long term scrutiny projects (lasting many months) 2 Focus groups or meetings by video conference 2 Scrutiny projects lasting one or two full days (online) 2 Total 37 Are you more or less likely to participate online or face to face? I'd prefer to get involved online 5 I'd prefer face to face meetings 1 I have no preference 7 Thanks to everyone who took the time to respond. We will take this feedback into account when we are planning ways to involve you in decision making and consultations. At the time of writing we’re updating the strategy to reflect your feedback and ideas. We’ll have more detailed feedback on this consultation shortly and the final strategy will be posted once its been approved by our Board. |
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Contact UsAncho
Sovereign House, Academy Road, Irvine, KA12 8RL |
Opening hoursMonday to Friday, 9am - 4pm
The office is open to visitors on Monday and Thursday, 9am - 4pm. Please contact us to make an appointment if you'd like to see a member of staff outwith our office opening times, or call or email anytime. |
Company InformationRegistered Society under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014
No 2559R(S) Scottish Housing Regulator No 306 Recognised as a Scottish Charity No SC036082 Registered property factor PF000346 |