Member Spotlight
It’s our members that make Tpas such a great organisation to be part of and what better way to show this than with our member spotlight feature.
Each month we will invite one of our members to share their engagement achievements, tips and ambitions, allowing you to keep bang up to date with what others are up to across the sector.
Member Spotlight - Lumensol .jpg)
We asked Martin Baker, Director of Operations and Transformation Services at Lumensol to share some of the work they are currently doing.
If you’d like to contact Martin about any of the below, click here
It would be great if you could tell us a little bit about your organisation, what you do and when you started. What you offer to our Landlord member Organisations.
Lumensol are a multi-disciplinary consultancy specialising in Social Housing, providing a range of services to Housing organisations and Local Authorities. These include Strategic guidance on areas of key service delivery such as Procurement, Commercial and Financial support, Data Analytics, redesigning internal resource teams and Operations, and delivery of comprehensive Asset Management activities such as Building Safety, Compliance and Decarbonisation funding & solutions. Lumensol was formed in 2018 and has continued to grow on the back of delivering successful projects and services with a team of 70+ consultants.
When do you feel there has been a time that engagement has made a “real” difference to the services you provide and the people and communities you work in.
As Lumensol is a consultancy supporting client organisations, our impact is through the guidance and services we provide, rather than direct to residents. However, we do undertake resident engagement across several functions and encourage our clients to ensure tenant engagement throughout either the individual project or service transformation. An example of this would be our Procurement team – who incorporate resident engagement through specification panels, tender scoring members, scrutiny contributions and placing tenant requirements in the heart of procurements from individual service streams through fully outsourced R&M and Housing Services models.
Are you currently working or have worked on a great engagement piece of work which you’d like to share with us?
We are currently supporting a London Borough with a significant Transformation programme across several delivery areas of their Housing service. These have included tenant participation in defining service levels and selection of supply chain and are now progressing to a comprehensive Decarbonisation strategy, including funded solutions and hard to treat properties – with tenants actively contributing to effective communications and planning activities. These activities all support preparation for In Depth Assessments undertaken by the Housing Regulator to ensure the provision of homes that are warm, safe and well maintained - and we now offer this service to help ensure residents are being treated fairly and actively involved in this process.
Why did you decide to join Tpas?
We wanted to ensure that we (our staff) are always aware that tenants are always the recipient, or end customer, to what services we deliver and to ensure that these services consider, respect and deliver for the client's tenants needs, as well as the organisation as a whole.
What would you say are your top resident engagement tips which may inspire others.
We have found that by building in tenant engagement and requirements into service panels, options appraisals for how services will be designed and delivered in the future, tender scoring or scrutiny activities – we can ensure tenants are directly involved and have direct influence. A key part of resident engagement is to be as open and transparent as possible, being clear on what they are participating in designing or determining, or when being consulted on the outcome sought. We find it important to provide all relevant information and in a way that tenants and wider residents groups can access as much, or as little information as they wish – by providing short summary versions and larger, more detailed information for those that prefer greater detail.
What’s the one thing you are really proud of in your organisation when it comes to engagement?
One aspect I am really proud of is that we are constantly evolving and increasing our service offering to clients and residents. We provide significant data analytics and reporting that is improving performance and visibility of safety and compliance within residents' homes for both clients and tenants. We are delivering the digital transformation of clients Housing IT systems to enable connected data and a single source of truth approach that will provide tenant self-serve opportunities with improved access to services and property information. This is in turn supporting the future delivery of services aligned to all aspects of the Consumer Standard requirements and their purpose – to protect tenants and improve the services they receive.
Previous Member Spotlights
October / November 2024 - Orbit
September 2024 - Gentoo
August 2024 - Watford Community Housing
July 2024 - BFT Mastclimbing
May / June 2024 - Stonewater
April 2024 - Hull City Council
March 2024 - Partners Foundation
February 2024 - Red Kite Community Housing
January 2024 - St Leger Homes of Doncaster
December 2023 - settle
November 2023 - Flagship Group
Sept / Oct 2023 - Hinckley and Bosworth Council
August 2023 - Tenants Hub CIC
June / July 2023 - Dovecotes TMO
May 2023 - Stockport Homes
April 2023 - TPTracker
March 2023 - Metropolitan Thames Valley
February 2023 - West Kent
January 2023 - Fairhive
December 2022 - Platform Housing Group
November 2022 - Integrated Solutions - City Plumbing
September / October 2022 - Homes Plus
August 2022 - Aspire
May 2022 - Arches
April 2022 - Acis Group
March 2022 - wdh
February 2022 - Michael Dyson Associates Ltd
January 2022 - South Yorkshire HA
December 2021 - Gateshead Council
November 2021 - LiveWest
October 2021 - YMCA Thames Gateway
September 2021 - Bernicia
August 2021 - Anglian Building Products
July 2021 - Warrington HA
June 2021 - Futr
May 2021 - Vale of Aylesbury HT
April 2021 - Aaron Services
March 2021 - Soha
February 2021 - North West Leicestershire DC
January 2021 - Vinci Facllities
December 2020 - Ongo
November 2020 - Places for People
October 2020 - Community Gateway Association
September 2020 - Dacorum BC
August 2020 - Eastend Homes
July 2020 - Connexus
June 2020 - Gridizen
May 2020 - Grand Union Housing Group
March / April 2020 - Onward Homes
January / February 2020 - Estuary HA
December 2019 - Muir Group
November 2019 - Blackpool Coastal Homes
October 2019 - Texthelp
September 2019 - Greatwell Homes
August 2019 - Selby DC
July 2019 - North Star Housing Group
June 2019 - Rotherham MBC
May 2019 - Homes for Haringey
I'd like to be in the spotlight
If you'd like to be featured in our Member Spotlight and highlight the work you are doing, please get in touch by emailing lisa.holt@tpas.org.uk.
Why choose Tpas?
Well established
We've been promoting, supporting and championing tenant involvement and empowerment across England for over three decades
Not for profit
Investing in Tpas means benefitting from the latest tenant involvement policies and practices but also securing and supporting the future of the tenant involvement agenda
Accreditation
We offer the only independent evidence-based accreditation scheme that assesses resident involvement arrangements.
Expert advice
Our shared knowledge, expertise and experience with staff, tenants, landlord and contractors are the building blocks of this organisation.
Find out more?
For more information please contact our dedicated membership team