Creating communities comes in many guises and, having worked with developers and resident managed clients on many community strategies, I know these things take time and consideration to strike the balance to ensure the community will flourish.
This includes things like placemaking initiatives and well-designed communal spaces providing opportunities for meaningful interactions.
The role of a property manager in building the foundations for a thriving community cannot be overlooked. In my experience, property managers’ most significant impact comes from creating the right culture to allow for communities to develop organically.
People-first property management
At FirstPort, we want to create a people-first property management culture; at the heart of this is appreciating people’s individual contributions and impact, and recognising the small things our colleagues do, often under the radar. After all, it’s sometimes the little things a property manager can do that make a big difference and add day-to-day value for their clients and customers.
The ‘be kind’ movement places wellbeing at the heart of our society and this is something, as property managers, we are passionate about. We look after each other as colleagues and support our residents. Many of our colleagues are mental health first aiders within the business. Their role is to be on hand for their peers across departments so that they have a supportive channel to share challenges or worries, whether that be work or otherwise. They listen and provide mentoring support to help people face challenges positively or signpost them to resources that can support them further.
Caring for our communities
Our customers don’t want to deal with a faceless block manager; they want to deal with a person who cares about their community. I have visited many developments where the stories that have most resonated with me are those that involve the simple goal of helping our customers. Like the Concierge who was a fantastic help to a new mum when her husband was stuck overseas, making regular calls to the mum to check in and see if she needed anything; or the Development Manager who went to visit a resident in hospital knowing the family couldn’t make the long journey. The little things that make a big difference to those individual customers and their families.
Having witnessed FirstPort’s recent Community Day, I saw first-hand how some of the projects with the biggest impact were the most modest, with a small group of people coming together – staff and residents - to give something back. There were litter picks, community building tidy ups, foodbank volunteering - no big fanfare or ambitious targets, just an opportunity for like-minded people who care to get involved and give something back to their communities.
A sustainable culture
Our sustainability agenda also provides us with an opportunity to work with our local communities to give a little back and ‘be kind’ to our environment. Whilst as a business we’re tackling the overall goal to make FirstPort a carbon zero company by 2040, we recognise small contributions that are happening across our developments to support this agenda will ultimately make a big difference and it’s already creating the right culture for success. For example, one of our south London residential developments has recently welcomed two hives of honeybees in a bid to help the bee population, the local environment, and the development community. Residents will be able to find out the latest updates on the bees on their internal portal and they will even be given the opportunity to get involved in urban beekeeping.
As a property manager, each development we manage presents both large and small-scale opportunities for engagement. By creating the right culture, with a people-first approach that puts kindness first and celebrates all successes, we create the right ethos for our developments to thrive.
Setting your developments up for success
FirstPort is the UK’s leading residential property service provider, caring for 330,000 homes in England, Wales and Scotland. With over 15,500 units successfully mobilised in 2022, we’re trusted by national and regional developers across the UK.
By Charles Lucas, Business Development & Mobilisation Director, FirstPort
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