Consultancy annual roundup

The year 2017/18 has been another record breaker for the Consultancy Team at Pennington Choices and we remain well on track to post our highest turnover to date. As our client base has continued to grow we have earnt a reputation in the sector based on our unique service offering and ability to deliver results; in turn the demand for our consultants has grown exponentially.

Our projects

It is no secret that our Consultancy Team have made a name for themselves by specialising in compliance and their expertise has led to the development of a number of products which are unique in the marketplace. As the team continues to deliver solutions to our clients the power and importance of their products and services is becoming more and more recognised throughout the sector. This year alone we have provided the following:

• Compliance Road Maps for Councils and Housing Associations
• Deep-dive audits across gas, electric fire, asbestos, water hygiene safety for Housing Associations
• Compliance Health Checks new in post Chief Executives and Property Directors
• Compliance Health Checks for Boards, Audit & Risk Committees and Property Directorates
• Compliance Health Check reviews (one year on)
• Strategic Repairs Review and subsequent restructures for a Council and Housing Associations
• In-depth compliance audits across ten compliance areas for a major London Council
• Procurement of property services for a City Council

The new recruits

It became apparent very early in the year that we were going to need additional resources to meet our growing demand, and so we took the decision to recruit. We knew from the very start that we were looking for a very specific type of consultant. It is a given that we expect a certain level of experience and qualifications, as well as a proven track record for anyone employed in our senior roles. However, the successful candidate must also share our ethos. Our consultants have worked hard to build their reputation of being both passionate and professional, whilst delivering work which offers cost effective and workable solutions to problems faced across the housing sector and beyond.

Fortunately for us, we have an in-house recruitment function that specialises in finding professionals who fit this specification exactly. From this we found our first new consultant, Justine Thompson. Justine, comes from a facilities management background, and has specialised in this field at a management level for nearly 15 years at the Swinton Group. Prior to this Justine spent 17 years as an Operations Manager at Marks & Spencer. The wide scope of Justine’s roles combined with the resulting experience, brings another level of expertise to the Consultancy Team in the form of repairs, compliance, and procurement. Also, her background in facilities management adds another arm to Pennington Choices contingent of specialist knowledge. Our Senior Consultants now share a breadth of experience across client and contractor side roles having held a number of chief executive, senior management, and director level posts between them.

Although recruiting in this way all but guarantees you will find the right person for role, as you would expect it takes time. During this interim period between the decision to recruit and actually finding Justine, it became apparent that we needed even more feet on the ground to meet our growing demand. Luckily for us, one of our long term and best performing associates was ready for the challenge. Jason Kingston has worked for Pennington Choices on an associate basis for a number of years and is a business analyst with nearly 30 years’ experience in the housing and public sectors. Jason specialises in innovative transformational change and process improvement; his skillset allows him to identify areas for improvement, outline what is needed to get there, and implement the changes required to stay there. Whilst working for us as associate Jason delivered excellent results time and time again for our clients and his passion for his field made him a clear choice for the role.

If you’d like to learn more about the two new members of our team, their Linkedin profiles can be found here:

• Justine Thompson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justine-thompson-3012aa24/
• Jason Kingston: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jpkingston/

If you’d like to discuss further any of the consultancy services we offer then please contact Jenny Neville or contact our Head Office on 0800 833 0344