Estate management overview
The driving principle behind good estate management is that all tenants have the right to live in a home where they feel safe, and where the street outside their property is well-lit, clean and free from graffiti. Those with responsibility for monitoring and directing estate services are the "eyes and ears" of the neighbourhood, with core accountability for maintaining the appearance and upkeep of residential and communal areas, overseeing and steering mobile deep-cleaning teams, window cleaning contractors, bulk refuse collections and seasonal services such as leaf cleaning and gritting. At its heart, estate management is about making a difference in the community and working with tenant groups in a collaborative way to ensure that neighbourhoods are pleasant and safe. Estate Management is not solely focused on looking after buildings and the physical environment; it is also about maintaining a regular and visible presence on each estate, acting as the touch-point between homes, neighbourhoods and residents. Such services cannot be delivered in isolation but rather in consultation with residents, establishing stronger communication links and promoting greater cooperation. Tenants are often invited to become ‘community partner’ representatives, taking a lead on how the estates are managed and being in attendance during all scheduled inspections and walkabouts. This approach underpins the aim of encouraging residents to take more collective responsibility for the environment in which they live and to promote a sense of belonging within the wider community. Liaison with other relevant agencies such as the police, local authority departments, community safety units and other stakeholders is also key to delivering against published standards.
The Estate Management module within Civica Cx Housing enables an organisation to record, manage and maintain all information pertinent to the successful planning, preparation and delivery of residential and communal area inspections within a dedicated case file, including the assessment and mitigation of all identified risks. The framework of each case is derived from a custom inspection type, which is further classified under an estate category such as 'block', 'street', 'allotment', 'garage' or 'green space' - configuration components that are predefined by the end user in line with their own standards policy and area jurisdiction. The administration and progression of all estate management cases is then structured around logical tasks, which can be thought of as a series of inter-connected “to-do” lists for each contributing owner. Rather than linking all identified tasks directly to the case, these are first grouped together within the inspection type, either as discrete actions or as part of a workflow path. This inherent functionality not only keeps all responsible staff members aware of approaching deadlines, with warnings and reminders automatically triggered in accordance with configured service standards, but also these activity-driven task lists are applied consistently to all cases operating under the same inspection type, therefore ensuring that every case is managed in a systematic way, irrespective of owner.
Separate help articles have been created for each key aspect of estate management, including: