News

A dedicated two year programme focusing on the promotion of wellness in the workplace has resulted in a coveted Investors in People Health and Wellbeing Best Practice award for Magenta Living.

The not-for-profit housing association, which is the largest provider of social housing in  Wirral and currently employs 535 staff mostly from the local area, has received the award in recognition of its investment into the health and wellbeing of its employees.

The award, which focuses on all aspects of wellbeing, including physical, psychological and social, comes following the implementation of a strategic project managed health and wellbeing approach at the organisation. Initiatives that have helped to secure the award and support the health and wellbeing of Magenta Living’s workforce include, sessions on smoking cessation and sleep support, the introduction of a dedicated and affordable on-site gym  as well as the creation of a chill-out room, where employees can benefit from mindfulness, breathing and relaxation classes.

Magenta Living’s leadership team has taken an active role in the programme, hosting regular lunchtime walks for staff, where individuals can chat and socialise with colleagues, while stretching their legs.

Nutrition and healthy eating is another key theme of Magenta Living’s wellbeing approach. The business hosts a regular Foodie Friday event, which see members of the executive team serve up a nutritionally balanced meal to staff at a cost of just £2. The meals are provided by catering students from Wirral Metropolitan College, who use the occasion to sharpen their corporate hospitality skills. In addition to this, employees have been given access to nutritional advice and awareness sessions.

Magenta Living has also supported the health of its outdoor workers by raising awareness of sun safety and skin cancer. It was the the first business to sign up to the Outdoor Workers Pledge from Public Health Liverpool and North West Cancer Research, which encourages employers to promote the use of sun protection and  provide protective clothing and sunscreen, as well as raise awareness of the symptoms of skin cancer and the importance of early diagnosis with employees.

Joanne Francom, Magenta Living’s Assistant Director of HR and Organisational Development said, “The health and wellbeing of our employees is of paramount importance to our values as an employer. A healthy work/life balance comes high on the wish-list of many of today’s employees and we want to help people achieve this.

“We place equal importance on physical and mental wellbeing and are committed to tackling the modern workplace stress epidemic by ensuring a supportive culture where people are encouraged to be open and to look after each other. We’ve recently introduced a team of mental-health first-aiders, members of staff who are trained to recognise the triggers and signs of mental health issues, to step in and provide reassurance and non-judgemental listening to colleagues in distress and to sign-post individuals to further sources of support.”

“Achieving the Investors In People Health and Wellbeing Good Practice Award is a fantastic achievement for Magenta Living and we hope to build on our success even further in future but, more importantly, we want to nurture a culture that will support physical and mental well-being for all of our employees for a long time to come. We know that the continued provision of excellent services that we pride ourselves on at Magenta Living relies on having a healthy, happy workforce.

“In 2019 we’ll be working hard to improve on what we’ve delivered so far and have plans for more wellness-focused initiatives, including staff hiking trips to Snowdonia and the Lake District, additional sleep awareness sessions and a health and wellbeing themed annual staff conference with activities to suit all abilities, including an employee five-a-side tournament. Our five-a-side events have been a real success story in terms of participation, with around 10% of employees getting involved. We’re also thinking about how we can broaden the provision of some of our classes and advice sessions, to build them into the wide variety of initiatives we already deliver to help improve wellbeing for our tenants. We use wellbeing valuation to measure the social value of Magenta Living’s work in neighbourhoods, and this is a really important metric of success to us.”

Backed by the Department of Health, Investors in People worked with more than 400 organisations to develop and pilot the framework for the Health and Wellbeing Best Practice Award. To secure the award, businesses have to undergo a rigorous evidence-based review process. Magenta Living achieved an ‘advanced’ score against each of the key award criteria, the highest score possible during the assessment.

In addition to winning the Investors in People Health and Wellbeing Best Practice Award, Magenta Living also retained its Investors in People Gold standard.  The Gold standard is awarded to less than a fifth of UK organisations and is widely recognised as an accomplishment of world-class best practice in people management and development. Following on from this achievement, Magenta Living now plans to pursue the Investors in People Platinum standard.

A sensory garden designed to improve quality of life for people with dementia is just one of the features being developed at Barncroft, Magenta Living’s first Extra Care Scheme in Wirral, which is now under construction.

Work has started on site at the £3.4 million development in Pensby, the first dedicated independent living scheme for over 55s to be built in the Wirral by Magenta Living, the borough’s largest registered housing provider.

Magenta Living launched its Extra Care offer in 2017 with the completion of its multi-million pound Hartley Place facility in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire.

The housing provider’s new Wirral-based Extra Care scheme will help to address demand for high-quality over 55s accomodation in the borough and is part of Magenta Living’s ongoing bid to broaden its customer offer and meet a variety of supported, affordable and social housing needs in the local area.

Construction is also underway on an over 55s apartment development at Magenta Living’s Clifton Avenue site in Eastham, following the demolition of a vacant block of flats. The flats will be replaced by a new mixed tenure scheme, comprising shared ownership houses and homes for rent in addition to the over 55s housing.

The Barncroft Extra Care scheme in Pensby, which is being built by Anwyl Construction, will feature a range of communal spaces and facilities to help combat social isolation and support well-being for residents. Along with 21 individual apartments and the sensory garden, the independent living community will include a shared lounge, an assisted bathroom and a garden room. Residents will benefit from a range of 24 hour on-site support services, with flexible care packages available to suit individual needs. The scheme has been designed by Manchester-based Pozzoni, an architecture practice with specialist experience in the creation of dementia care environments.

John Siddell, Head of Development at Magenta Living said, “These latest developments underline our strategic goal of building new homes, as well as investing in our current housing stock. We’re working hard to meet a variety of housing needs across the Wirral and beyond, and catering to the needs of people over 55 is a key focus for us.

“As we deal with the challenges posed by an ageing population, it will become increasingly important to have high-quality supported housing developments like Barncroft available. And, it’s essential to ensure that newly created communities- like the one we’re developing at Clifton Avenue in Eastham, support a broad spectrum of ages, to help promote social inclusion and limit the risk of loneliness – a growing concern amongst the older population. Above all, Magenta Living is committed to supporting vibrant homes, lives and neighbourhoods, and we know our new schemes will achieve all of these things.”

Magenta Living is a not-for-profit housing provider, owning and managing nearly 13,000 properties. The organisation has invested over £200 million in its properties over recent years and has ambitious plans to build over 2,000 new properties for rent and outright sale over the next five years.

Brian Simpson, Chief Executive of Magenta Living said:

"I’m delighted to announce that following a recent assessment from Investors In People (IIP), we have been re-awarded Gold status.  This is excellent news for all staff here to end the year with and I’m really proud of this achievement. This also confirms how staff have engaged with our five-year Corporate Plan that we launched in April, of delivering our new Vision of vibrancy and excellence, Vibrant … homes, lives, neighbourhoods and shows how staff are delivering our values and strategic objectives, our VIBE in the roles that they do.

"Along with this, we have also been awarded the IIP Health and Wellbeing Best Practice Award which further confirms our commitment to staff around health and wellbeing here at Magenta Living. This year we implemented a gym which is available for all staff to join with several fitness classes also taking place. Staff have also been involved in training courses, reviewing and implementing policies and taking part in various staff events. It is so important to ensure we have a healthy and motivated workforce which ultimately reflects on the service we provide to our customers.  

"The IIP process is very thorough with lots of evidence gathering, interviews with staff and surveys. This is a real testament to everyone who has been involved to achieve Gold again and we look forward to working towards receiving Platinum over the coming years."

Leading North West housing provider, Magenta Living has successfully delivered a pilot motivational programme, designed to empower vulnerable, young single-mothers and equip them with a range of valuable life-skills.  

Magenta Living, which currently owns 13,000 properties in Wirral and throughout the North West, delivered its Inspiring Dreams programme to a group of eight young women at the Our House centre in Rock Ferry.

Our House is a dedicated supported housing scheme that provides shelter and a safe space for vulnerable young women aged from 16 to 25 who are facing a range of challenging circumstances. The ten-bed centre accommodates young single women, young pregnant women and young single mothers along with their children. The staff team at Our House works closely with residents, in liaison with social services, to help get women back on their feet and develop the essential life-skills they need to forge more positive futures.

Magenta Living has tailored a special programme for the young single mothers at Our House, based upon its existing Inspiring Dreams initiative.  This initiative is designed to support Magenta Living tenants in developing the skills, knowledge and self-confidence they need to succeed.  Launched in 2017 Inspiring Dreams has already seen seven groups of Magenta Living tenants graduate the course, after achieving their planned personal goals.  

The Inspiring Dreams programme tailored to the young women at Our House focused on boosting aspirations, promoting self-confidence and resilience, and strengthening employability skills, through a variety of practical workshops and advice-based sessions.  These included fitness, well-being and healthy lifestyle classes, CV writing and interview skills sessions and communication technique workshops. Those who took part were also provided with a free gym pass and were given the opportunity to gain a paediatric CPR qualification.

All training was delivered by Magenta Living in partnership with North West training provider 3D Training.

To enable young mothers to participate in and benefit from the programme, Magenta Living provided two professional creche workers for the duration of the two-week course.

Jamie Martin, Head of Community Regeneration at Magenta Living said, “We developed Inspiring Dreams to help empower people to take back control of their own lives, paving the way for more positive, rewarding futures. By tailoring the programme for the young women at Our House we hope we are helping to address the needs of a particularly vulnerable group of people, increasing confidence, supporting well-being and boosting life-skills that will help to ensure a better future for young mothers and their children.”

A young woman taking part in the Magenta Living programme added, “The course has been really inspiring and it has brought me out of my shell. It has made me realise what I can achieve, and I’ve remembered that I do have career aspirations. I am going to study psychology through the Open University and will pursue my dreams of being a forensic scientist. This course is the first step, but it has made me reminded me what I’m capable of achieving.”

Following the success of the pilot programme, Magenta Living is looking to deliver a second Inspiring Dreams course at Our House in early 2019.

Local school and college students were given an insight into the wide variety of career opportunities available in building maintenance and construction at a special event organised by Magenta Living, one of the North West’s leading housing providers, to encourage more young women into the industry.

The Go Construct – Girls in Construction open day was held at Magenta Living’s Building Services Depot in Birkenhead, home to the housing provider’s team of more than 150 highly-skilled building services technicians. The team provides a broad range of specialist services to Magenta Living customers, across the 13,000 properties the organisation currently owns and manages in Wirral and throughout the North West. Services delivered include 24/7 emergency response repairs, refurbishments, maintenance, building renovations and conversions, electrical engineering, plumbing, joinery and decorating.   

Female students were invited to see the team in action, with a series of practical demonstrations and talks put on to increase awareness of the diverse career paths available to them across the building maintenance and construction industry. Plumbing, joinery,  plastering and decorating were all showcased, and students heard from Magenta Living painter Cathy Jackson who shared her own personal development story, having originally joined the organisation ten years ago via an apprenticeship.

The event was opened by Michelle Plimley, Magenta Living Head of Voids and Allocations, who explained her role in the organisation, along with Head of Business Development for Building Services, Mike Cliff, who talked about the vital part apprentices play in delivering excellent services for Magenta Living’s customers.

Students were able to take a tour around the Building Services depot, which included a session with Leona Roper, assistant branch manager for Travis Perkins Managed Services, who explained what her role is and how her company manages Magenta Living’s repair and maintenance supplies. Leona gave her audience a sneak peek into the Travis Perkins dedicated store facility at Magenta Living’s Building Services Depot, which gives repair and maintenance staff instant access to the materials they require on a daily basis.

Magenta Living also invited three of its IT high-fliers to talk to the young women attending the open day, to help illustrate that building and construction also encompasses a wide variety of business support roles. Jen Tyler and Anne Carr, who have reached the finals of this year’s Women in IT Excellence Awards, along with Paige Carr, ICT Apprentice, gave an insight into their day-to-day work and the opportunities available to women in STEM related areas of the industry.

The Go Construct event was designed in conjunction with Wirral Metropolitan College, a further and higher education college offering courses and diploma qualifications from entry level to degree. The college has been a source of local, talented apprentices for Magenta Living for some time and earlier this year, the two organisations formed a new mutually beneficial partnership. Under the agreement, the college provides insight and expertise to help Magenta Living strengthen the capabilities of its workforce whilst Magenta Living helps to shape the development of Wirral Met’s curriculum to ensure it meets the needs of its business. Magenta Living also provides work experience and apprenticeship opportunities for students.

Students from Wirral Metropolitan College joined year 9 to 11 pupils from Birkenhead Park School and Bebington High at the Go Construct open day.

Joanne Francom, Director of HR & Organisational Development at Magenta Living said, “It was fantastic to engage with young women from our local schools and colleges through this event and, hopefully, to open their eyes to the exciting variety of careers avaliable within the building maintenance and construction industry. The housing sector relies heavily on skilled tradespeople and we need to tap into female talent to help ensure we have the right skills in place going forward. We have some outstanding female team members at Magenta Living but we recognise that our organisation, along with the rest of the industry needs to do more to encourage women into building and construction.

“While there have been some positive changes in terms of gender diversity in building and construction in recent years – with more than a quarter of positions in the industry expected to be filled by women by 2020, we still have a long way to go.

“Of course it’s important that women of all ages come to see building and construction as a viable career path, and Cathy Jackson who joined us as an apprentice in her 30s illustrates that age barriers aren’t an issue to entry, but a big part of making change happen is building awareness of opportunities from an early age and helping to break down the gender stereotypes by engaging with school children and actually demonstrating to girls that they can do what would have traditionally been male-dominated roles. This was a pilot event for us but, given its success, we look forward to holding more Go Construct events in future.”

The Go Construct event was sponsored by The Liverpool City Region Apprenticeship Hub,and funded as part of the Employees Support in Skills Project funded by the European Social Fund / Education and Skills Funding Agency.

Chris Eriksen, Hub Skills Broker from the Liverpool City Region Apprenticeship Hub attended the open day and said, “It’s fantastic to see a local company opening up its business like this to help bring apprenticeships and career opportunities to life for young women.This was an excellent showcase of the types of sought after skills that can be acquired via an apprenticeship like Magenta Living.”

Carmell Denton, a joinery student from Wirral Metropolitan College who went along to the open day added, “Pro-active events like this will help to shift the balance in what has been a very male-dominated environment and encourage more women like myself to pursue a skilled trade and make their mark in the industry.”

Magenta Living has been awarded the prestigious ‘Contact Centre of the Year’ title at the recent Call North West Awards.

The Magenta Living Contact Centre was the overall winner in the small contact centre category, with a team of dedicated members of staff providing excellent customer service around the clock.

Magenta Living was invited to the Call North West awards at The Midland Hotel in Manchester following a series of challenging tasks including a written submission, presentation and short video showcasing their achievements.

Magenta Living’s Contact Centre operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week and receives customer contacts through multiple channels including telephony, live chat, social media, email and face to face contact in their Customer Hub in Birkenhead.

The team also takes an active approach in ensuring the safety of vulnerable tenants by providing a community alarm service, handling a variety of calls across a range of issues, including ambulance requests and falling incidents. Magenta Living’s Contact Centre professionals also operate a dedicated CCTV room, which ensures safety within Magenta Living neighbourhoods. The Emergency Response Team, which forms part of the Contact Centre, works closely with Merseyside Police and its CCTV has recorded criminal activity in progress, leading to the conviction of offenders.

Jane Thomas, Managing Director of Call North West said: “The Magenta Living Contact Centre’s key objective is always at the heart of all they set out to achieve – making an exceptional customer journey for all who connect with the business. This was reflected brilliantly in their winning entry – Contact Centre of the Year, where the judges were blown away by their creative presentation. I am delighted for the Contact Centre Team, they should be very proud of all they have achieved – long may they aspire to keep channelling their enthusiasm and passion to future growth and opportunities.”

Brian Simpson, Chief Executive of Magenta Living said: “It is an outstanding achievement to win ‘Contact Centre of the Year’ at the Call North West Awards and to get the recognition the team deserve. Our Contact Centre Team work incredibly hard to provide the best service and put our customers at the forefront of everything we do. We were up against some tough competition, so we’re delighted with the result.”

Magenta Living residents were thrilled to win six prestigious RHS Britain in Bloom ‘It’s Your Neighbourhood Awards 2018’. It’s the third year that Magenta Living residents have entered and the groups are going from strength to strength increasing their levels of achievement year on year.

The long hot summer meant keen gardeners had to spend far more time watering their fabulous displays and giving them extra love and care to keep their gardens in full bloom for judging day back in July. All their hard work paid off and the RHS judges were very impressed with our residents wonderful displays and commented that they have seen the highest standards being maintained this year.

This has been a fantastic achievement for all involved. The winners are:

• Jean, Karen and Connor from Bidston Rise won Level 3 ‘Advancing’ for their neighbourhood and Bluewood Park
• Josef from Neston Gardens received Level 3 ‘Advancing’ for his first year of entry
• Dee, Eddy and Mary from The Redshanks, Hoylake received Level 3 ‘Advancing’ for their first year of entry
• Julie and Lesley from Caithness Gardens received level 4 ‘Thriving’
• Alan, Chair of Prenton Residents Association, also collected two awards for all his dedication supported by Wirral Council working across all the Prenton communities, not Just Magenta Living neighbourhoods.
• Pat, Jan Dave and June from Brackendale high rise received level 4 ‘Thriving’
• Bill and Dena from Liscard House were the proud winners of the top award level 5  for ‘Outstanding’ garden of the year.

Bill said: “I’m in shock. I didn’t think we could achieve this top award and to come first in the Magenta Living Garden Competition 2018 too, this has topped such a wonderful year of gardening and we are delighted. I’m going back to discuss with the Liscard House residents about what we can add to our little oasis next year. We can’t wait for the spring to get gardening again!”

Maureen Davies Environmental Services Manager said: “I cant praise the residents enough that entered this year for the splendid work they are doing with their communities to brighten up our neighbourhoods and make them welcoming places to live and visit. All that take part are so enthusiastic and dedicated giving up so much of their time to improve outdoor spaces. We are already discussing what we can do as well as entering ‘Its Your Neighbourhoods Awards and thinking about entering all our high rise into the higher level of competition North West in Bloom Core awards 2019. Nearly all of the high rise schemes have lovely garden areas be it small or large so we believe with the help of Bill and other skilled gardeners we can raise the standards across all high rise blocks. This should also raise the profile of high rise living and demonstrate that the outside living spaces can be enjoyed just as much as the inside. Our residents are creating their own little oases of greenery all over its fabulous to see and be part of.”

Hilbre Homes, a new joint venture between Magenta Living and Starfish Group, has officially launched its Barleyfield scheme in Pensby, Wirral – the very first housing development to be completed by the socially responsible new build company.

Created last year by Magenta Living, Wirral’s largest registered housing provider and multi-tenure house builder, Starfish Group, Hilbre Homes  was designed to deliver cost-effective, high-quality and sustainable homes for sale. The joint venture aims to deliver hundreds of new homes across the North West and North Wales by 2023.

The Barleyfield development, located in the popular residential area of Pensby, comprises a range of two, three and four bedroom mid and end mews houses of two and three storeys, as well as a number of three bedroom semi-detached properties and one four bedroom detached family home.

Each home incorporates modern, flexible living spaces designed to enhance natural light, bespoke kitchen and bathroom options, along with front and rear gardens, and off road parking. In line with Hilbre Homes’ sustainable ethos, the Barleyfield properties have been developed with a focus on energy efficiency to help support sustainable living for owners and tenants. Seventy per cent of the site was reserved off plan with units selling quickly.  Help to buy options are available for potential home-owners interested in the site.

Barleyfield is the first development to be officially launched by Hilbre Homes but the company has a variety of housing projects underway across the Wirral, Cheshire, Lancashire, North Wales and Staffordshire, with new developments including a wide range of home styles and types.

Magenta Living, a not-for-profit organisation, and 60% stake-owner in Hilbre Homes will plough all of the profits it secures from the joint venture back into the development of new social and affordable housing stock, along with enhanced services for its customers.  This means that at least 60p in every £1 raised by Hilbre Homes will be charitably reinvested back into communities to ensure a positive economic, environmental and social impact.

John Feddon, Chair of Hilbre Homes, who attended the official launch ceremony at Barleyfield, said, “Barleyfield, like all of our Hilbre Homes developments is aimed at families, first time buyers, downsizers and second time buyers looking to not only purchase a house, but buy into the lifestyle of the local area, enabling the elevation of the community. We’re hugely excited to be launching this first development under the Hilbre Homes banner and hope it will set new standards. The Hilbre Homes model is built around our mission of “building better homes and communities” and with an approach focused on sustainability, community living, and profit re-investment, we know we can achieve this goal.”

Also attending the Barleyfield launch were members of the Hilbre Homes Board; Kenneth Russell, Paul Anson – Director of Business Growth and Resilience at Magenta Living, Martin Gerrelli CEO of Starfish Group and Simon Woodward, Managing Director of Hilbre Homes and Director of Starfish, along with the Magenta Living Executive Team and Board.

Residents at Hartley Place, Magenta Living’s state-of-the-art, independent living community in Ellesmere Port, were treated to a night of country music and Wild West-themed fun to mark the facility’s 1^st anniversary.

The lounge of the extra care housing scheme, which supports independent living for the over 55s and provides residents with their own self-contained home in a communal development, proved the perfect setting for a live set from professional country music act Tennessee Jack who performed in full, authentic Western gear.

Residents were also invited to mosey on down to Hartley Place’s own Lemon Tree Bistro to enjoy a hot pot supper and a slice of birthday cake. The evening wrapped up with a ‘Hartley Place’ themed quiz.

The anniversary celebrations, which came a year after Hartley Place first opened its doors to residents, formed part of a regular programme of activities and entertainment held at the extra care community.

The independent living scheme, comprising 60 apartments as well as 15 bungalows, also offers an on-site hairdressers and beauty salon, which are open to the public, along with a landscaped garden space where residents can enjoy planting and gardening. Residents can also benefit from 24-hour on-site support services and a range of flexible care packages.   

Commenting on the 1^st birthday event, Justin Danher, Head of Specialist Housing Services from Magenta Living said, “Hartley Place is a vibrant, social and inclusive community and we wanted to celebrate this with all of our residents and staff. We had a fantastic evening and our residents really got into the spirit of things. We look forward to sharing more occasions like this together as part of our ongoing community events programme.”

Magenta Living has partnered Number Seven to help connect 50 people struggling with tight budgets to a local community supermarket that could help lift the pressure - enabling you to buy good quality food at affordable prices and access to advice & support should you need it.

Number Seven Community Supermarket have expressed they have asked that you please check you the below create before using the application form:

• Do you live in Birkenhead?
• Is your household income less than £1,666 (couples) or £1,116 (individual)?
• Do you receive support through benefit payments?

Please fill in the below form