Thank you to LiveWest for their ongoing commitment to offering Civilian Work Placements!
Category: Success Stories
Publish date: 01/10/2019
LiveWest are a housing association with Homes across the South West and West of England. We were formed in March 2018 through the merger of Knightstone Housing and DCH, and since then we have built on the best of both organisations. We have recently invested in new-build offices in Exeter and Tolvaddon to complement the Weston-super-Mare office, where we are also making major investment. We are also member of Homes for the South West, a group of the largest developing housing associations in the south west, making the case for investment in our region.
In recent months, we have been very happy to support over 20 Civilian Work Placements, largely for Service Leavers undertaking the Gas Engineering Course, but also in other roles, and it is intended to extend this offering further across all departments – see more on this below.
As a thank you for our ongoing support, the LiveWest Team were invited to visit 3 Elliot Terrace in Plymouth, the home of Lady Astor, who was an American born British politician and the first female member of our Parliament, and now the official home of the current Lord Mayor!!
The whole event came about through Jo Lucas, who is the Employer Relationship Manager – South West for the CTP and herself a Veteran of The Royal Navy. Whilst at a previous function with the Lord Major (Richard Ball) she happened to mention the sterling work LiveWest does with the CTP and he, also being ex Royal Navy, was intrigued to meet the team and offer Afternoon Tea and a Tour of his official residence.
We got to hear a little about him, his time served, how one becomes a Lord Mayor and their duties, and the history around the Chain of Office he wears …. the inner layer is alleged to have originally been worn by Sir Francis Drake! The chain weighs 42g and each gram is worth £1200!!
We were then taken on the tour by the Lord Mayor’s right hand man and historian Steve Mallinson. What that man didn’t know about Lady Astor and Astor house you could write on a pin head, very engaging and informative. 3 Elliot Terrace, is a working office, in fact the Princess Royal was there recently for an event and we were told that she doesn’t like to eat in front of others so took her lunch with her lady in waiting on her own in the library!
The success of the Work Placements and subsequent permanent posts is down to the commitment and dedication of each individual involved. From the initial introductions through to the Work Placements themselves, and further into successful paid employment for many, the whole team are the core to the success of the programme. None of this could happen without the support of the People Development Manager, Resourcing Manager, Heads of Departments, Line Managers, Mentors and the Placement Co-ordinator.
From a Service Leaver perspective there have been many compliments regarding their experience of the placements, for example:
“I have now completed my 5 weeks experience with LiveWest and would like to thank you for the opportunity to briefly be a part of the team. It was a fantastic and very rewarding experience. I will apply everything that I’ve learnt going forward in my training. As of next week I will be starting with XXXX in Southampton, however I’m kindly asking if I can remain in your system till the end of my course as I would love the opportunity to add some more installs to my portfolio through LiveWest, as the work conducted and personal support by your engineers are at a very high standard. My aim is to provide that same standard in every job and there is no better place to learn the skills required to complete the tasks at hand safe and with efficiency. Working with LiveWest, my expectations have been exceeded. “
“I would just like to take five minutes to thank you for all your efforts in facilitating all my training and helping me complete my Gas portfolio, I can now say I am a qualified Gas Engineer and I know I wouldn't have being able to complete this without your assistance. The whole team were excellent throughout and made me feel like I was part of the team, straight from the off, and at no point did I feel I was a hindrance, they spent their time teaching me all I needed to know and everyone was extremely helpful. After serving 17 years in the military it was nice to work within a company that had the same attitudes and work ethic as myself and I really enjoyed the customer interaction as well as learning daily. I like many others who you help with the support of the CTP are sure to appreciate the efforts of not just yourself but everyone working within the company who have being helping ex-service. I will now be looking for employment with the Gas sector and will be sure to keep my eye out for any opportunities that should arise within LiveWest. Once again many thanks for the help.”
Greater accolades would be hard to find!
Many satisfied “customers” were taken so much with the business that they wanted to come back and take on permanent work. This is as much as a testament to LiveWest, but largely to the mentors. the passion they show for their craft, the business and willingness to share their knowledge is key to how those who come on work experience feel about the career path they have chosen and the number of requests of looking for work within our organisation.
Suzanne Brown, LiveWest Executive Director of Neighbourhoods and Customer Service, commented: “ CTP is a win:win - We provide opportunities for ex-forces personnel to learn about and try our business and as a result get some amazing employees committed to working with us into the future. Let’s do more of this !! ”.
As a result, LiveWest have now committed to offer more than just trades placements and we are very happy to consider requests across all disciplines, including Administration to Project Management, from Pastors who may wish to work with our supported housing, to Payroll Officers, I.T, Facilities Management and more! Indeed, we have already accepted a request for a Facilities Management Placement and are well on the way to agreeing a start date with the individual concerned!
Regular vacancies are posted on Right Job (search under company name), but Work Placements are requested on an individual basis by speculative approach. The sky really is the limit, and if we are able to help at all we will, so if you are seeking employment within the housing association sector, please do get in touch by sending your CV, your specific request and availability, via Jo Lucas (ERM South West) at [email protected].
We look forward to hearing from you. In the meantime, take a look at our Focus Page on the CTP website here which will also link you to our current vacancies. 
From left to right:
Back row, standing:
Steve Mallinson (Tour Guide and Historian): Mark Malone (Mentor): Paul Collinge (Line Manager - Gas): Kieran Rigby(Mentor): Justin Davison (Head of M&E): Jason Leese (Electrical Manager): Lord Mayor of Plymouth: John McLaughlin (Supervisor that supports most of the CTP s from Devon and Gas): Anthony Tribble (Mentor): Simon Jones (Former CTP Placement now in permanent employment): Alex Fairbanks (Mentor)
From row, seated:Rachel Minns (Business Support Manager): Adam Bond (Mentor): Jo Lucas (Employer Relationship Manager – CTP)