Excellence in customer service
In a rapidly changing environment, the need to deliver excellent service is more important than ever. This award recognises housing teams who go above and beyond to deliver truly outstanding customer service.
We are looking for organisations that have used insight and evidence and who endeavour to improve the housing services received by customers.
The judges will be looking for evidence of:
Nominations for this award could be for a single project or refer to your general organisational approach to customer service.
Who is eligible?
This award is open to any team across all tenures – not just customer service teams. This award is open to all organisations working in housing. To be eligible relevant activity should have taken place within the last 12 months.
Excellence in housing innovation
This award is aimed at programmes or projects that demonstrate an innovative approach which has made a real difference to the lives of tenants or customers. This could be any new product, service, or technology – being able to demonstrate innovation is the key.
Judges will look for evidence of:
The award is open to all housing organisations across all tenures and suppliers to the housing sector, as well as community and tenants’ organisations. To be eligible, projects or initiatives should have taken place within the last 12 months.
Working in partnership
This award will recognise partnership and collaboration across the housing spectrum. If your organisation has developed, delivered or driven progress through working in partnership with organisations in or outside of housing, we want to hear from you.
Judges will look for:
This award is open to projects involving partnership working with other organisations. Partnerships with sectors like health, care, education or personal finance are examples, but any project that requires collaboration from partners both in and out of sector will be considered. To be eligible, projects or initiatives should have taken place within the last 12 months.
Excellence in development for affordable housing
Despite the disruption caused by the pandemic, Scotland’s housing sector has continued working hard to deliver much needed affordable housing. This award is aimed at developers who have built new residential developments in any recognised affordable tenure.
Your entry should be able to demonstrate the following criteria:
To be eligible developments must have been completed in the last 12 months. Developments may be multi-use, but rental property must be its primary purpose.
Excellence in tenant scrutiny
This award is aimed at landlords and their tenants who can show excellence in working collaboratively to scrutinise work, or to embed scrutiny within the culture of the organisation. This work should have demonstrably improved service outcomes for tenants and/or enhanced the lives of tenants and communities in some way.
Judges will be looking for evidence of the following:
The award is open to all registered social landlords, local authorities and their tenants in Scotland who have developed excellence in their scrutiny activities and outcomes in the last 12 months.
Excellence in the private rented sector
This award is open to all organisations operating in the private rented sector in Scotland. It is aimed at letting agents or landlords who strive to excel in the areas of customer service and innovation.
We are looking for organisations who can demonstrate that they excel in the following criteria:
This award is open to any private sector letting agency or landlord, including social landlord subsidiary.
Excellence in regeneration and sustainability
This award acknowledges the critical importance of a range of bodies, organisations and local groups in revitalising communities and neighbourhoods. It also recognises that physical improvements go hand in hand with social and economic developments to make a real difference to people’s lives.
The judges will be looking for: evidence that lasting improvements have been made in the area, both physical and socio-economic and that there are good prospects for the long-term viability of the area.
Entrants should address one or more of the following criteria:
The award is open to any organisation, group or partnership that can show how it has met as many as possible of the criteria listed above.
Housing organisation of the year
This award recognises the social landlord or letting agency that has delivered a truly excellent service for their tenants over the past year.
Judges are looking for: an organisation that has demonstrated sector-wide leadership while continuing to deliver a great service for their tenants and communities. Part of being housing organisation of the year is building the workforce of the future and judges will be keen to see how applicants have made succession planning and professional development a core aspect of what they offer as a housing organisation.
Submissions should demonstrate:
This award is open to any landlord, letting agent or social landlord subsidiary operating in Scotland. Judges are looking for entrants that have achieved real outcomes for their tenants and the sector over the last 12 months.
Excellence in learning and development
This award will recognise organisations that are leading the way in driving professionalism, learning and development while delivering a great service for tenants. We want to hear from organisations who are fantastic to work for and drive good outcomes for their staff as part of the day job.
Judges will look for:
This award is open to all organisations working in housing across all tenures including councils, housing associations, private sector landlords and letting agents.
To be eligible, relevant activity should have taken place in the last 12 months.
Excellence in health and wellbeing
The right to an adequate standard of housing is inextricably linked to the right to the highest attainable standard of health. The right to health is a shared and inclusive right and good quality, sustainable housing is key to fulfilling this for individuals, families and communities.
We want to hear from organisation who have made commitments to improve the health and wellbeing of the communities they serve.
Judges will look for evidence of initiatives that improve:
The award is open to all housing organisations in Scotland. To be eligible entrants must explain how their projects have improved outcomes for their customers.
Housing-led approaches to ending homelessness
This award recognises projects, initiatives and organisations working to prevent or relieve homelessness in their communities.
Judges will be looking for: collaboration and evidence of positive change.
Applicants should be able to demonstrate success in one of more of the following criteria:
Who is eligible?
The award is open to landlords, letting agents and their partners delivering homelessness services across Scotland.
Excellence in communications
This award recognises outstanding communication with their tenants and residents, where communication has played a core part of the service received and has demonstrably improved housing outcomes. Nominations for this award could be for a single project or refer to your general organisational approach to communication.
Entries should showcase the following:
This award is for teams across all tenures (not just dedicated communications teams) who have delivered outstanding communications in the last year. To be eligible, relevant activity should have taken place within the last 12 months.
Net zero in housing
The housing sector, like many others, is faced with the challenge of cutting carbon emissions to achieve the Scottish governments’ net zero targets.
This award recognises organisations that can demonstrate they have overcome some of the significant challenges in cutting carbon emissions. Applicants may consider new developments, retrofit projects or any other initiatives that have helped reduce carbon emissions.
Judges will look for the following criteria:
The award is open to any organisation, group or partnership that can show how it has met as many as possible of the criteria listed above.
The Marion Gibbs award for equality in housing
This award recognises projects, initiatives and organisations working to promote equality, diversity and inclusion and address housing disadvantage. This includes those supporting people with specific protected characteristics or redressing specific inequality. This initiative can be focused on changes within an organisation or on the services received by tenants.
Applicants should be able to demonstrate success in one of more of the following criteria:
Who is eligible?
This award is open to all organisations working in housing across all tenures including landlords, councils, other providers and voluntary/community groups.
Apprentice of the year
This award recognises the contribution of apprentices across the length and breadth of the housing sector in different areas and specialisms. The winner of this award will have demonstrated their commitment to personal development with achievement and attainment in learning.
Through their contributions in the workplace, applicants should demonstrate that they have exceeded expectations and made a difference to the organisation they work in. They will also be able to provide evidence of approaching day to day work with a positive outlook and demonstrating a willingness to be creative and innovation.
In your entry, judges will look for:
The award is open to any applicant undertaking an apprenticeship scheme or traineeship in any discipline and working in any part of the housing sector.
Excellence in leadership
This award is for an individual and recognises excellent leadership in the sector. It aims to demonstrate the quality of leaders in housing and highlight how brilliant housing people are.
We’re looking for leaders who can demonstrate the characteristics below:
Leaders can be identified at all levels of organisations, and whilst we anticipate that many nominations will be for professionals at executive level, we would also welcome those who have achieved at any level. They should be able to demonstrate the criteria above.
Housing team of the year
The title of housing team of the year will be awarded to a team who have delivered an outstanding contribution to their organisation and for the housing sector. The award is designed to recognise achievement of something special, as part of developing new services, dealing with difficult situations or delivering the best services.
You should be able to demonstrate that the team has fulfilled the following criteria:
This award is open to all organisations working in housing, across all tenures. This could be a management team, a front line team, or am inter-departmental team. To be eligible relevant activity should have taken place within the last 12 months.
Young achiever in housing
The award recognises individuals who can demonstrate that they have shown passion, commitment and flair in delivering services for tenants and residents.
Submissions should demonstrate how the individual nominated fulfils the following criteria:
This award is open to anyone under the age of 30 at the time of application, who is working or volunteering in the housing sector, irrespective of tenure. Full-time students studying for a housing qualification are also eligible to apply.
Lifetime achievement
This award is for an individual who has consistently gone the extra mile during their career in housing and made a lasting impact on the sector.
This award is open to any individual who has worked or is still working in the housing sector in Scotland. Judges are looking for entrants who can demonstrate delivering positive change for their organisation(s) and in the communities they have served over their career.