Grainger’s build-to-rent blocks provide safe, secure and modern homes for our residents, with onsite teams on hand to support with requests, amenity bookings and resident events. The benefits of living in a Grainger property include professional management and excellent service with the option to engage in events, be part of a community within and around the building, and enjoy a variety of amenity spaces.
Grainger will always put the needs of residents at the forefront when planning and designing a building. Each element is designed to get the best from the building, creating spaces that residents will want to use and for staff and residents to engage easily.
Creating a community within the block is very rewarding, seeing people come together and watching them build friendships is what our management teams strive for. Resident committees are also popular which enables the residents to organise their own events and further strengthen the feeling of community.
Resident events
Understanding our residents is key to organising events. Each building varies, with a different demographic of residents by location, including those with children or pets, or young professionals and sharers. Communicating and building relationships with the residents from the day they move in helps provide an understanding of what type of events will likely work for them.
Events range from coffee mornings in the residents lounge to yoga classes on the roof terrace, quiz nights and day trips to name a few. Some residents have a special talent to showcase; a florist, baker or nutritionist for example, and have held events such as an evening of cake decorating with a small number of residents in the private dining room or a seminar on wellbeing and healthy eating. Charity events are popular with our residents and these types of events bring people together socially whilst benefitting a good cause.
Resident relationships
Organising events and good communication build trust and help form a stronger bond between the residents and on-site management teams. Regular communication issued around social activities enables residents to feel they are part of a community even if they live alone or a new to the local area.
Our portals and social media platforms play a huge part in our resident engagement. Residents can post their experiences and ideas through these channels which creates interaction with their neighbours and management team. These are commonly used for photo competitions, which are always very popular.
Our experiences with resident events are a positive one. Grainger is developing new ways of engaging with residents daily to continue understanding their requirements.
Our hope is that by supporting new relationships and friendships, our residents feel happier in their home and more established in their local community, and stay with us for longer.
Live.Safe is Grainger’s overarching health and safety cultural change programme. It has been implemented throughout the business to embed health and safety in everything we do and underpins our ambition to deliver best in class health and safety compliance.
Live.Safe was formally launched in 2019 with a range of engagement events and activities that reached all Grainger team members. We appointed Live.Safe Ambassadors, who represent all areas of our business and act as advocates for Live.Safe, ensuring the programme is embedded in their business area. Our Ambassadors have undertaken nationally recognised IOSH Working Safely training and meet regularly to progress initiatives, reporting into Grainger’s Health and Safety Committee.
Best in class learning and development
Within Live.Safe, we offer a comprehensive programme of learning and development to all staff. This covers all areas of health and safety from personal safety training, to policy and compliance briefings, to technical seminars and role-specific training.
Regular internal communications shine a spotlight on how Live.Safe is embedded into different areas of our business as well as our home lives and provide updates on key risks employees need to be aware of.
Embedding Live.Safe into our business processes
In 2020, we have continued to further develop Live.Safe, addressing specific topics that have been identified during a business wide Safety Climate Survey. Technical training is being delivered throughout Grainger after the recent launch of a new Health and Safety Management System (HSMS). The training not only addresses all aspects of compliance but sets out the behavioural expectations of Granger team members when considering moral and legal obligations. An expanded programme of activity, Live.Safe 2.0, has been rolled out to complement the introduction of the HSMS, virtual learning and development programmes and further engagement activities are being delivered throughout 2020.
We are also introducing a new facilities management and incident reporting system which will enable Grainger team members and residents to log any incidents through an online portal, helping us efficiently identify and resolve issues. The system will also facilitate improved reporting, helping us to analyse and prevent recurrence of incidents, supporting our goals of continuous improvement.
Monitoring progress and performance
We have Key Performance Indicators that monitor our progress in areas including incident reporting, property compliance and supplier performance against our health and safety audits. We also benchmark our performance using the Health & Safety Executive’s Safety Climate Survey and commission a regular external audit of our approach.
Involving our stakeholders
We recognise that meeting best in class health and safety cannot be achieved without collaboration, and we support colleagues, customers and those delivering services on our behalf in identifying risks, learning lessons and providing confidence that Grainger will respond proactively.
Responding to covid-19
Live.Safe has guided Grainger’s response to Covid-19, with comprehensive risk assessments undertaken for all Grainger workplaces and a working group established to oversee the business response and undertake extensive employee engagement to ensure employee welfare is prioritised.
The importance of a home has never been felt so strongly, and we take great care to ensure all Grainger homes meet the highest standards of health, safety and welfare, and that our customers understand how to keep themselves and others safe.