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October 12th 2006
TWO CASTLES AWARDED FOUR GREEN LIGHTS

Two Castles Housing Association has once again achieved top ratings in a Housing Corporation performance assessment.

Two Castles has been awarded four green lights by the Housing Corporation – the same as the association achieved at its last assessment in 2005. However, the corporation has praised Two Castles for its commitment to continuous improvement.

The housing association achieved green lights under the broad headings of governance, financial viability, management and development.

The report provided evidence that Two Castles:

is in a strong financial position and has an ambitious development programme
has a great deal of experience and its long-standing governing body provides continuity and consistency in a challenging environment
recent Board self assessment of compliance against the Regulatory Code was thorough and a good example of self regulation
is committed to tenant participation, as set out in its resident involvement policy and demonstrated by the number of residents on its key committees
has an executive management team which works well with local authority partners and the Housing Corporation
tries to embody the continuous improvement ethos in everything it does.

Two Castles has membership of key regional and sub-regional bodies. These include the Cumbria Rural Housing Trust, the Cumbria sub-regional housing forum, and the National Rural Services Partnership.

It is a member of the Spirit development partnership and is a preferred partner of Assesttrust, a private finance company, who they will be working with to produce a large number of affordable homes across the North.

Stephanie Murphy, chief executive of Two Castles, said: "I am delighted that the Housing Corporation has recognised our performance and has once again awarded us the top rating.

“I am particularly pleased that the assessment highlighted the fact that we continue to demonstrate strong performance across the board and also recognises our commitment to continuous improvement in all areas.”

Two Castles operates across the North of England and derives its name from the two castles in Carlisle and Newcastle. It was formed in 1966 as Cumbria Housing Society but changed its name in 1977 following an expansion into the North East.

The association now owns and manages over 3,300 properties ranging from rented properties for families, the elderly and single people, to shared equity starter homes and leasehold schemes for the elderly. It covers a wide geographic area, stretching from Berwick down to North Yorkshire in the North East and from Carlisle to Fleetwood in the North West.

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