Cllr Saima Ashraf, Deputy Leader with Evo and B&D Reside team
An innovative partnership between BD Reside and EVO, has been awarded the ‘Best Repairs and Maintenance Innovation’ accolade at the Housing Digital awards 2024.
BD Reside, a housing company wholly owned by Barking and Dagenham Council, partnered with EVO, a digital repairs, maintenance and compliance platform in 2023 as an initial pilot, with a view to transform its property management and maintenance service.
In the first three months of the pilot being launched, the partnership has seen stellar results with an 80% resident app adoption rate, a customer satisfaction rating of 4.6 out of 5 for work completed, a reduced resolution time for repairs from over 28 days to less than 6 days, a first-time fix rate of 96% and the works backlog completely cleared. The pilot has now been live for nine months.
BD Reside exists to provide affordable housing, both for rent and for sale, to those who cannot afford to buy or rent on the open market and have limited access to social housing. Reside is committed to delivering over 3,600 homes of this nature over the next three years in Barking & Dagenham.
Through the EVO partnership, BD Reside has benefited from more engaged and happier tenants, a higher first-time fix rate saving time and cost, up to date compliance information and access to all property data held in one place. The latter can be analysed to support better decision making, full transparency of all reported repairs and progress, and a simple user friendly system that allows plugins and fits with existing infrastructure. Against the industry average, EVO has saved repair and maintenance operating expenditure by up to 30% and garnered resident reviews such as: “Absolutely impressive, timely and awesome services.” and “You are already better than whoever managed it previously”.
EVO works by residents reporting problems through an app by the push of a button which automatically kick-starts the repairs process and tracks the status. The streamlined digital workflow encompasses the whole end to end process from job report to work being completed, along with a 12 month warranty. The technology focuses on improving the customer journey and places residents at the heart of one of Reside’s key service areas.
Michael Westbrook, MD at BD Reside said: “We are delighted with the award and would like to thank the team at Reside and EVO for delivering on what we set out to achieve – an improved tenant experience. On all levels the pilot with EVO has been hugely successful and transformative, even in the first nine months. As a result of this partnership, we have happier and engaged tenants, full visibility on data which supports our ability to plan ahead and budget, as well as reducing the whole life costs of repairs. We look forward to continuing our work together and seeing the long-term benefits to all.”
Steven Rae, CEO of EVO: “Both BD Reside and EVO recognise that delivering quality social housing doesn’t end at providing a roof over someone’s head, the tenant experience is crucial too and we could not be prouder of the work we have done in a relatively short space of time and the difference it has made to residents and BD Reside. We are really pleased that this work has been recognised. We will continue to work on improving the tenant experience at BD Reside and at all our clients’ housing portfolio’s, together with delivering transparent data and innovative technology that reduces cost and helps landlords plan ahead effectively.”
