With over 250 entries, we’re delighted to have been shortlisted for the Inside Housing Development Awards 2022 for our Extra Care Housing, Wilkie Gardens in Galashiels. Making a difference for the people of the Borders. Continue Reading
Our latest digital edition of Connect is now available through the following link: Spring Connect 2022 This edition signposts sources of help that are out there, such as the work we are doing to help combat fuel poverty with colleagues in the Borders Housing Network, useful heating tips from Changeworks, and help getting back to… Continue Reading
Nile Istephan, our Chief Executive, welcomed Scottish Government Minister, Tom Arthur (MSP) to Wilkie Gardens, our Extra Care development in Galashiels. It was a good opportunity to talk about the work Eildon are involved in on sustainability and community wealth building. Continue Reading
Census deadline 31 May – there’s still time Affordable homes for those in need You can fill out your census online at census.gov.scot or on paper. Paper forms can be ordered online or by calling 0800 030 8308. The website and helpline can also help you if you have questions or can’t fill in the… Continue Reading
This week Irina Juodeike, Susan Turner, Noon Malik, and Marnie McVitie travelled to Leith in Edinburgh to help out as part of ‘Eildon Makes a Difference’ at the Cyrenians Food Depot for their ‘Food is the First Step’ appeal. According to Cyrenians, 1 in 5 adults in Scotland are currently skipping meals to make ends… Continue Reading
CYRENIANS OLDER PEOPLE ACTIVE LIVES PROJECT COMES TO THE SCOTTISH BORDERS Cyrenians, who support people excluded from family, home, work or community, will launch “OPAL in the Borders” in the summer of 2022. The project is aimed at people age 60+ and will be in partnership with Eildon Housing Association. OPAL is a prevention… Continue Reading
We’re absolutely thrilled to learn we have been shortlisted as a Finalist for the Scottish Home Awards 2022. Not only once, but twice, in the Affordable Housing Development of the Year (Social Rent) category. The qualifying new developments are Galashiels-based – Wilkie Gardens and Elworthy Place. Wilkie Gardens is an impressive state-of-the-art extra care development… Continue Reading
CYCLING WITHOUT AGE SCOTLAND GALLIVANTS INTO GALASHIELS There was a fantastic buzz of excitement around Wilkie Gardens, Eildon’s Extra Care Housing development on Wednesday 11 May, when Cycling Without Age Scotland launched its first Trishaw ‘Galavanter’ for Galashiels, in partnership with Energise Galashiels Trust, with a ribbon cutting ceremony conducted by Braw Lass, Abbie Hood.… Continue Reading
We officially received a rebate cheque for £1016 from the Scottish Procurement Alliance (SPA) and our Property Assets Director, Neil Wilson-Prior, collected it on our behalf. We have taken the decision to donate the full amount to the Disasters Emergency Committee’s Humanitarian Appeal. The conflict in Ukraine has forced many families to flee their homes. People have left behind jobs,… Continue Reading
Older People Active Lives We’re delighted to announce that we, in partnership with Cyrenians, have been awarded funding to bring the OPAL in the Borders service to our tenants over the next two years. The service is targeted at our tenants aged 60 and over and aims to provide opportunities for people to come together… Continue Reading
The Borders Housing Network are helping the Scottish Borders with housing and much more…. Ahead of the local authority elections on Thursday 5 May, the Borders Housing Network the 4 Registered Social Landlords based in the Scottish Borders (Berwickshire, Eildon, SBHA and Waverley Housing) are highlighting some of the benefits they collectively bring to local… Continue Reading
We were very saddened to hear of the passing of Robert (Bob) Stewart MBE who gave much of his time to Eildon over the years. When he retired, he took on the role of Committee Member from 2005 – 2011 and before then he was employed as a Clerk of Works with Eildon. In his… Continue Reading
We are delighted to announce the appointment of Mr Brian Frater to our Board. Chair, Dave Alexander, said, “We are absolutely delighted to welcome Brian Frater on to the Board. He joins us at a terrifically exciting time as we embark on the next five years of our strategy, continuing our commitment to invest in… Continue Reading
The contractors and their patches as from Monday 4 April 2022 Waverley Housing have been providing repairs and maintenance services to us, along with Terry Frame and R3 for the last four years. The cost of providing these services, now, in light of rising costs and materials shortage has caused us to look closely at… Continue Reading
On 3 March our Chief Executive, Nile Istephan, and HR Manager Deborah Taggart, attended the British Quality Foundation Awards in London and were delighted to receive the room’s applause for being awarded a ‘special commendation’ in their headline award for EFQM Excellence. We were recognised for an “innovative approach to cascading our strategy” as well… Continue Reading
If you, or anyone aged over 16 in your household, are currently unemployed and would welcome some support to get back into work, we could help. We’ve partnered up with the Wise Group and the other housing associations in the Borders to offer a new service to our tenants. The Borders Employment Advice and Mentoring… Continue Reading
Following a recent competitive tender process, we have new stair and window cleaners from 1 April 2022. The stair cleaner is CAS Contract Cleaning Ltd, and the window cleaner is J Kyle Cleaning Services. As they are new to the area, they are currently working on a rota for the cleaning which may be subject… Continue Reading
Our Care & Repair team recently took possession of a brand-new fleet of 100% electric vehicles with power cards. So keep a look out for them with their new eye-catching livery! Take a look at them in action here. The move to go electric, falls in line with the current Five Year Strategy to modernise… Continue Reading
After achieving 5 Stars through the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM)* framework back in April 2021, we then submitted an entry to the British Quality Foundation (BQF). We are absolutely delighted to hear we are now finalists for the BQF Excellence Awards 2021 | BQF. The UK Excellence Awards Ceremony will be held at the Central London Park Plaza Riverbank on the Thursday 3 March 2022. We are all… Continue Reading
A you looking for a new challenge for 2022? Are you committed to sustainable inclusive growth within our communities? Do you have the drive and energy to join an organisation playing a critical role in ‘building back better’? Then you could be our newest Board member. Eildon Housing Association is a leading housing and care provider in the Scottish… Continue Reading
The Teviot Court team put on a fabulous Christmas lunch for our tenants this week, which everyone enjoyed. There was even a surprise visit from the local nursery who came down to sing carols in the courtyard. The children also gave our tenants a lovely gift. Continue Reading
Our current strategy ends on the 31 March 2022 and we have already started work developing our next one. We have been speaking with Eildon Board and Staff members and will be reaching out to our wide range of stakeholders to help us with this work. But we really want to hear from you, our… Continue Reading
Eildon Housing are delighted that the 57 high quality new home development in Chirnside, has been granted road construction consent, following the decision made by the council’s executive committee. This is the final step in planning of this new development which is part of Eildon’s strategy which has seen investment over the last five years… Continue Reading
Eildon Housing are delighted to have acquired a key central site in Galashiels and plan to regenerate this area by providing much needed high quality affordable rented homes. Nile Istephan, CEO of Eildon Housing said, “We have acquired the site of the former Borders College on Melrose Road, Galashiels which has been lying vacant for… Continue Reading
Former Chairman of Eildon Housing Association, Mr Bill Wilkie MBE, officially opened the brand-new extra care development named after him, with a tree planting ceremony on Friday 26 November 2021. The impressive state-of-the-art development Wilkie Gardens provides 39 one and two-bedroom flats on what was the derelict site of the old Langhaugh Mill. The… Continue Reading
We’re really pleased to share with you our new, and hopefully you’ll agree, improved performance report for 2020/21. We’ve created a short animation showing the summary of results with an introduction from Nile, Eildon Chief Executive. View our animated report here. You can also download the full report here. We’d love to know what you… Continue Reading
Are you on a prepayment meter and reaching crisis point? We have secured £250,000 of ringfenced funding for social housing tenants with pre-payment meters suffering hardship through 2021-22. Please contact our Tenancy Sustainment Team 03000 200 217 who can help organise a top-up voucher from the Fuelbank Foundation. Here is some more information about the Fuel Bank Foundation Extra Support Leaflet… Continue Reading
Environmental charity Changeworks has published advice on what to do if your gas or electricity supplier goes bust. This is in response to increased concerns and questions from residents and tenants on energy suppliers getting into difficulty due to rising gas prices. Changeworks advice sheet, Help if your gas or electricity supplier goes bust, sets… Continue Reading
Great news – we have made it to the shortlist for an award at the Chartered Institute of Housing, Scotland Housing Awards 2021. Our Passivhaus development at Springfield Terrace, St Boswells has been shortlisted for the category: ‘Excellence in health and wellbeing’. The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony at the Double Tree by Hilton,… Continue Reading
Stakeholder Information: Covid-19 Testing Update: October 2021 Where will the Community Testing Programme be over the next few weeks? The community testing programme alternates between local fire stations* and over the next few weeks will be available from 10:30am – 3pm in: Peebles 4 October Galashiels* (Volunteer Hall) 5 October Lauder 6 October Hawick 8… Continue Reading
Connected to our Communities – Selkirk Community Shed Eildon recently donated the large white display shelves that used to sit in reception at the Weaving Shed to the local Selkirk Community Shed. The shelves now take pride of place at the Selkirk Community Shed and are being used to showcase some of the fantastic work… Continue Reading
Today is Scottish Housing Day 2021 and we’re tackling Climate Emergency head on. Our Chief Executive, Nile Istephan, will be speaking to Councillor Mark Rowley throughout the day in our short soundbites. Have a listen to what they had to say on this important topic by viewing the links below. #climateemergency #scottishhousingday #scottishborderscouncil Video 1… Continue Reading
Helping communities stay gas safe Eildon is proud to be supporting Gas Safety Week 2021, taking place 13th – 19th September. Gas Safety Week is an annual safety week to raise awareness of gas safety and the importance of taking care of your gas appliances. It is coordinated by Gas Safe Register, the official list… Continue Reading
We’re really pleased to have joined an alliance of other prominent local Living Wage employers in the Eildon area of the Scottish Borders to launch an action plan setting out how we will work together on “Making Eildon a Living Wage Place’. The Living Wage accreditation will ensure workers employed through third party contracts will benefit from the real Living Wage, which is independently calculated each year to reflect… Continue Reading
Have you heard of #Countylines or #Cuckooing? This is a real issue affecting the Borders – watch video created by Borders Housing Network in support of @PoliceScotland to find out more. Continue Reading
Eildon held its 48th Annual General Meeting on 1 September 2021 at the end of a tumultuous year. The AGM was preceded by a Special General Meeting held to allow the adoption of new Rules for the Association, including the ability to hold future AGM meetings virtually if required. Chairman, Dave Alexander, highlighted some of… Continue Reading
We are delighted to be able to offer a personalised service for tenants living at Dovecot Court, Peebles. We will be taking over from the current provider SB Cares (Scottish Borders Council) on 1 September 2021 and will deliver care at home and housing support services in addition to their current role as landlord. Our… Continue Reading
Having an office refit and modernisation meant that we were left with some excess office furniture which we decided to make available, for free, to local voluntary organisations. Nile Istephan, Eildon’s Chief Executive said, “We thought having an office refurb would be a good opportunity to donate our excess furniture to local charities and voluntary… Continue Reading
The following information has been provided by NHS Borders Where will the Community Testing Programme be over the next few weeks? The community testing programme alternates between local fire stations* and over the next few weeks will be available from 10:30am – 3pm in: Coldstream 9 & 10 Aug Lauder 9 & 10 Aug Eyemouth… Continue Reading
Eildon Housing are delighted to have been granted planning permission to continue their partnership with Buckholm Ltd. to deliver a further 69 homes at High Buckholm corner in Galashiels. The first phase of the development consists of eleven family homes and will be completed in November 2021, with the second phase commencing later in 2021.… Continue Reading
Eildon Housing Association has been announced as a finalist at the prestigious Scottish Home Awards 2021 for the Social Housing Developer of the Year category. The Borders charity was declared a finalist after the judging panel assessed more than 130 entries in 18 categories received from 70 organisations from across Scotland. Nile Istephan, Chief Executive of Eildon… Continue Reading
Where will the Community Testing Programme be over the next few weeks? The community testing programme alternates between local fire stations* and over the next few weeks will be based in various locations. For more information please click here . Continue Reading
Every year we survey our customers to make sure we continue to deliver high quality tenancy and estate management services, and excellent customer care. This year we plan to introduce a new care survey which will be issued to all our tenants and service users who receive local care and support services from us. This… Continue Reading
For information, our staff are on training today, but will be back to normal hours tomorrow Thursday 8 July 2021. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause you. If you have an emergency, please call 03000 200 217 and press 1, to go direct to Hanover who are handling all our emergency calls. Continue Reading
One dedicated team to handle all your customer enquiries. Contact us at 0300 020 0217 or housing@eildon.org.uk Continue Reading
We have, in conjunction with Newcastleton’s Community Council, developed a new local lettings initiative which gives priority to people who can demonstrate a local connection with the village. This new local lettings initiative gives ‘Platinum Priority’ to applicants: who already live in Newcastleton and who wish to move to alternative accommodation in the village, and to applicants who have a specific need to move… Continue Reading
The Eildon Group has received the prestigious recognition of being awarded 5 Stars through the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) recognised for Excellence (R4E) framework. R4E is an international recognition scheme for organisations that demonstrate high levels of performance against the nine criteria of the EFQM Excellence Model. Eildon’s Chief Executive, Nile Istephan, commented,… Continue Reading
The Eildon Group has announced the appointment of Lynn Mirley as its new Director of Business Support. Lynn, who is from the Borders, was formerly Finance Director at National Trust for Scotland and brings with her a wealth of experience in the public, private and third sectors including social care, having held a variety of… Continue Reading
We are delighted to announce that building works are underway working with local contractor M&J Ballantyne, to create more much-needed affordable housing on the historic site of the former High School in Kelso. This development will consist of 36 new homes for extra care. Architect Aitken Turnbull’s sympathetic design includes retaining the art deco facade… Continue Reading
