NetConstruct’s original appointment came in 2007. Following a competitive tender process, Your Homes Newcastle (YHN) selected us as the digital agency to develop their new public facing website and staff intranet, and to carry out the integration to YHN's back office systems.
The main objective was to improve effectiveness, increase accessibility and reduce costs in delivering management and community services to 80,000 tenants and 2,500 staff, in an area of the UK where 23 languages are spoken.
At the same time, the website and intranet had an important role to play in the pending Audit Commission review - with a key target for YHN being to be re-rated upwards from Two Star to the top ALMO rating of Three Star.
NetConstruct has a recognised pedigree in the social housing sector, and has been supplying digital services for social housing organisations since 2001. We quickly built a close and productive working relationship with the YHN team, and got down to business.
We designed an easy-to-use website offering a range of online services including rent payment, housing applications and reporting systems. We developed bespoke software enabling tennants to track home improvement programmes, and made extensive use of video to enhance communication with those for whom English is not their first language.
“We designed an easy-to-use website offering a range of online services including rent payment, housing applications and reporting systems. ”
View the
Your Homes Newcastle
site
The new YHN intranet was developed and installed on-site, including server configurations, and we trained YHN’s staff in content and technical management for both the website and intranet. The website is hosted by us on the Rackspace platform.
The result is an online system that has met and exceeded expectations. As an added bonus, our digital development was recognised as contributing very positively to Your Homes Newcastle becoming the first ALMO in the North East to be awarded a Three Star excellent rating by the Audit Commission.
On-going support is through our dedicated help desk team, which is used by over 90% of our 130+ clients. Through incremental expansions and upgrades, the site continues to evolve to meet the needs of the tenants and staff.