Press release

South Northants Homes comes home

Northamptonshire-based social housing provider, South Northants Homes (SNH), has relocated to offices at Wood Burcote House, Burcote Road, in Towcester.

The new SNH home, which was formerly a Connexions office, was bought by SNH in February 2009 and, after a comprehensive refurbishment programme by contractor Rotunda Ltd, has been transformed into modern open plan offices. The purchase and refurbishment cost £1.6 million and was accommodated within its business plan.

SNH opened for business at its new location for the first time on Tuesday 28 July at 8:45am. The first customer through the door was Miss Karen Brown, who was promptly presented with a box of chocolates by receptionist Lauren Westwood. Karen had arrived at the office to inquire about SNH’s kitchen and bathroom programme and to collect a copy of her rent statement.

The building has been re-designed with SNH tenants in mind, including people with disabilities. There are ample car parking spaces for visitors. Contemporary office practices have also been well catered for; with a Board room and several meetings rooms and break-out areas. SNH has already received approaches from the police and local community groups to use these facilities out of hours.

The building has benefited from an external face lift and has been painted in the SNH corporate colours. It boasts two white flags, one displaying the SNH logo and the other the logo of SNH’s parent company, Grand Union Housing Group. SNH has installed an old fashioned Victorian post box outside the main entrance so that visitors can conveniently post correspondence when the offices are closed. Naturally this heirloom is also painted in SNH colours! 

SNH was formed after a stock transfer from South Northamptonshire Council and since that date had temporarily occupied office space at two sites: in the Council offices at Springfield and Tove depot. The new offices enable economies of scale to be achieved to improve front line services such as money advice service and to develop a “one team” customer focused culture for SNH. 

Paul Calland, Managing Director of South Northants Homes said: 

“SNH made a commitment at the outset to remain in Towcester, where we are one of the major employers in the town. Since we formed in March 2008 our staff have been actively supporting the local economy by using local amenities and we are really pleased to be able to continue to do so from our new location. I am also really glad that our presence here has resulted in the revamp of such a prominent building in Towcester.” 

SNH contact telephone numbers remain the same: 08454 606 888 for general enquiries; 0800 177 7001 for reporting all repairs other than faults with central heating systems; and 0800 177 7003 for reporting central heating faults and repairs. Previous direct dial numbers are no longer available.

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