Transforming Aster Property Management

Michael Reece – DirectorAster Property Management

Aster Group

• 16,000 homes in South East & South West

• Federal Group structure

• Hard maintenance client/ contractor split

Aster Property Management

• Undertakes Group commercial activities:– APM Contracting (£13m turnover & 200 employees)– APM Market Renting

• Created in 2005 by merging Testway & Sarsen DLOs

• Delivers wide range of maintenance for the Group• Modest external contracts• APM mission & objectives

2007 – Major Investment

• Poor financial performance more visible once DLOs separated from Has

• Inspection reports critical of repairs• Need to modernise every aspect of the

business- particularly response repairs• Need to unify operations• 2007- Consultant led big bang change

management programme initiated

Rising Stars Improvement Programme

• 6 projects– Getting the right organisational structure, terms &

conditions and culture– Significant investment to improve IT and how

repairs are organised (Optitime & Cognito)– Improved purchasing of materials– Better use of the Rocc repairs system– Improved management of APM’s fleet– Simplifying how APM charges Sarsen & Testway

• APM in profit for last 6 months• Cost of responsive service within HA repair

budgets• APM Planned and Estates services remain well

regarded by the Group• Most response repairs KPIs improving

–Tenant satisfaction & post inspections–Target completions

• Further KPI improvements required–Productivity & First Time Fix

Impact of Rising Stars

• Incremental v. big bang change• Board and Executive level sponsorship & intra-

Group support is essential – Project Board• Dedicated project management resources • Delivering a service whilst undergoing major

change is difficult• Communicate as much as possible• Manage expectations• Momentum is critical

Learning (1)- Change

• Impact of appointment scheduling software & PDAs• Salaried operatives- no panacea• Productivity measurement with no SOR?• Trackers• Hard client/ contractor split & partnering• Recovery cycles – time and patience needed

Learning (2)- Operations