Words by Simon Wilson, Chief Executive Officer – The Pioneer Group & Compass Support
Simon Wilson, CEO – The Pioneer Group / Pic supplied by The Pioneer Group
(Ed’s note – this column was written for the Erdington Local printed edition and first published on 20.12.24)
As we enter the festive season, we reflect on the strength of our community and the importance of supporting one another. We know that while this time of year can bring festive cheer, it can also present challenges for families in Castle Vale. That’s why we remain committed to easing the burden across the Vale.
Our teams are at the heart of what we do, providing support to residents, including delivering hampers to those in need over this festive period, with the aim of bringing joy to the Vale.
I’d also like to reflect on this year’s Christmas Tree Lights Switch-On, which was a great success, bringing residents together in a moment of celebration, reflecting the spirit of Castle Vale.
It’s a tradition that will continue for years to come, and we’re grateful to everyone involved in making this event happen.
As an anchor within the community, we’re continuing our commitment to make Castle Vale a place where everyone can thrive. We’re thankful to our residents, partners, and staff and together, we can make this festive season brighter for all.
We look forward to continuing our work in the new year.
Have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year!
The Pioneer Group and Compass Support are key partners in the Erdington Local COMMUNITY ANCHORS programme – supporting independent local and community journalism.
Centre Park, Tangmere Drive, Castle Vale / Pic supplied by The Pinoeer Group
Castle Vale is kickstarting the festive season by planting a real Christmas Tree in Centre Park, with an official ‘lights switch-on’ event to be held at 4:30pm on Thursday 5 December.
Free to attend, local residents are all invited to see the Castle Vale Christmas Tree illuminations, with stalls serving donuts and hot chocolate throughout the event.
The Castle Vale Christmas Tree, which stands at over 14ft tall, has been permanently rooted in the park off Tangmere Drive and will be a central part of the estate’s Christmas celebrations for years to come.
Organised by The Pioneer Group, the modern-day housing association that evolved from the old Castle Vale Community Housing Association, the tree was donated by Nationwide Windows and Doors – as part of their partnership with The Pioneer Group to help support local residents on the North Birmingham estate.
Nationwide Windows and Doors also donated 60m of special Christmas lights to decorate the tree, which organisers hope will stand as a beacon on community spirit throughout the dark winter nights.
The Pioneer Group manage over 2000 homes on Castle Vale and have previously worked on a widespread windows and doors replacement programme with Nationwide, helping make homes more energy efficient and increasing security.
Simon Wilson, Chief Executive at The Pioneer Group, told Castle Vale Local: “The Christmas tree lights switch-on is a great way to bring our community together during the festive season. My thanks go to everyone involved in making this event happen.”
He added: “Special thanks to Nationwide [Doors and Windows] for donating the tree and to Councillor [Ray[ Goodwin for his support to bring this event to life. This event will kick start our celebrations across Pioneer and Compass Support with a host of festive activities taking place this December.”
Cllr Ray Goodwin (Castle Vale, Labour) standing by the Christams Tree in Centre Park – donatred bvy Natrionwide Doors and Windows / Pic supplied by Cllr Goodwin
Councillor Ray Goodwin (Castle Vale, Labour) also championed the partnerships that made sure some festive fun came to Castle Vale this Christmas.
He told: “My sincere thanks to The Pioneer Group and its partners for embracing the Christmas spirit in such an amazing way. This is a true testament to Castle Vale and the strength of its partnership working that made this possible.”
Kevin Caveney, Director of Commercial Sales at Nationwide Windows and Doors, further stated: “We are deeply committed to creating social value in the communities we serve. We understand the importance of fostering community spirit, especially during the holiday season, and we’re proud to support Castle Vale with the donation of a community Christmas Tree.”
He added: “It’s our privilege to work alongside the Castle Vale community to make this Christmas a little brighter and to demonstrate how businesses can create meaningful impact through small but powerful gestures.”
Christmas Tree in The Sanctuary Community Centre / Pic by Ed King
Throughout December, The Pioneer Group and its charitable subsidiary Compass Support will be helping local residents this Christmas with outreach campaigns to provide food, household goods, and even presents to those who are struggling over the festive period.
Special Christmas Hampers will be made up and distributed to local residents in need, providing groceries and everyday essentials, with people asked to donate an old ‘bag for life’ from their supermarket shopping to hold the goods in.
Anyone who can donate a ‘bag for life’ for the Christmas Hamper campaign is asked to drop them into The Pioneer Group offices on Castle Vale High Street before 16 December.
‘Caring Together at Christmas’ campaign poster on display in The Sanctuary Community Centre / Pic by Ed King
The Sanctuary Community Centre is also organising the ‘Caring Together at Christmas’ campaign, where a special Christmas Tree will stand in the community centre entrance featuring tags hung on its branches with ideas for presents for local children in need.
Charitable members of the public can then choose to purchase a gift for a local young person, akin to the Secret Santa gift giving idea, and help make sure each child on Castle Vale has something to unwrap on Christmas Day.
Anyone wishing to nominate a child to receive a special Christmas gift can visit The Sanctuary and ask to fill out a form with the child’s name, age, and suggested gift ideas.
To contact The Sanctuary and Compass Support directly please call (0121) 748 8111 or email [email protected]
Words by Simon Wilson, Chief Executive Officer – The Pioneer Group & Compass Support
(Ed’s note – this column was written for the Erdington Local printed edition and first published on 15.11.24)
Towards the end of the summer, we asked our residents, stakeholders and members of the wider community to tell us what the most important services are that we provide and what makes a great landlord.
You responded to that call, and we have received lots of interesting feedback from across the community.
You told us that CCTV and The Sanctuary are the most important services that we provide In Castle Vale, promoting community safety and enabling residents through a range of employment, family, youth and health and wellbeing support services.
Our tenants told us that safe and well-maintained homes were most important to them, followed closely by good communication and customer service.
I’m not sharing this because these themes are new to us, or unexpected. We have made the decision to invest in CCTV and services for residents as well as a range of improvements in the fabric of our homes over the life of our last corporate plan because we knew then that these things are important.
However, all the feedback that we’ve received will be used to shape our next corporate plan that will set the direction for our business until 2030.
We will be renewing our focus on great customer service, improving communication and our digital platforms and continuing to invest in the homes and services that you’ve told us matter most to you.
The Pioneer Group and Compass Support are key partners in the Erdington Local COMMUNITY ANCHORS programme – supporting independent local and community journalism.
Simon Wilson – CEO The Pioneer Group / Supplied by The Pioneer Group
This year we’re working to deliver some important projects here on the Vale. They will support us to continue to deliver on our original promise to provide high-quality affordable housing and making lives and communities better.
As many of you will already be aware, we’re in the middle of a programme of work to replace windows and doors in many of our homes. These upgrades will make our homes warmer and more energy efficient for our residents but they’re also part of a much larger project.
Through the UK Clean Growth Strategy, the government has set a target for all social housing providers to get a minimum rating of Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) C for rented properties by 2035.
An EPC generally measures how energy efficient your home is, and this is an important to step to making all homes ‘net zero carbon’ by 2050.
We have also got funding from the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) to continue this work.
We have now adopted the Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing which is a framework to help us measure our success in this area.
To find out more about our work to make our homes more sustainable you can read our first Environmental and Social Governance report on our website.
One final note to say that it’s really important that we have up to date contact details for residents, if yours have changed, please let us know!
The Pioneer Group and Compass Support are key partners in the Erdington Local COMMUNITY ANCHORS programme – supporting independent local and community journalism.
Since we took management of our Castle Vale properties from the Housing Action Trust we’ve been known by many names.
Although the change to The Pioneer Group was relatively recent, some of our colleagues joined us when we were known as CVCHA or CVCH and they continue to provide high quality and safe housing for Castle Vale residents.
You may not know this, but the decision to change our name to The Pioneer Group was taken to support our mission to grow our business and continue to support our communities.
Under both the last and newly elected Governments, there’s an expectation that housing organisations don’t just manage social and affordable homes but continue to grow and build new, much needed affordable homes.
It is this ambition to grow and unite our partner organisations with one brand that fuelled this change to The Pioneer Group.
We’ve recently rejoined PlaceShapers, an organisation that supports community focused housing organisations.
They were excited to hear that we have our own charitable arm, Compass Support providing a range of services to residents and our own football stadium!
Together, We Are Pioneer and we’ll continue to shape our services around your feedback and to provide safe, affordable accommodation for Castle Vale.
The Pioneer Group and Compass Support are key partners in the Erdington Local COMMUNITY ANCHORS programme – supporting independent local and community journalism.
