The Carnwath Road Estate is situated on one of many sites of the Thames Tideway Tunnel construction project and comprises 64 mixed-tenure homes. The tunnel is an initiative from Tideway to upgrade London’s sewage system. Construction work at Carnwath Road started in 2016 and is planned to finish by 2022.
The work included an extended period of 24-hour tunnelling work. Tideway recognized the disruptive nature of this work put in place several measures to support residents throughout the project.
In 2015 NewmanFrancis were commissioned by Tideway to provide independent and impartial advice and support service to residents living at Carnwath Road.
In the first few months of the project and prior to the start of the Tideway works, we focused primarily on outreach and relationship-building to ensure that residents were well informed ahead of the works.
As part of our outreach, we identified those residents who were most vulnerable and likely to be impacted by the Tideway works. We supported them by exploring mitigation options that were available to them such as respite, temporary rehousing, additional soundproofing measures, etc. We ensured residents were kept up to date through frequent outreach, quarterly newsletters, and regular email updates, and provided residents with access to a freephone service.
In addition, we facilitated regular residents’ meetings for all Carnwath Road Estate residents inviting representatives from Arhag and Network Homes to update on key topics such as estate management. NewmanFrancis attended the CLWG (Community Liaison Working Group) meetings to get up to date information on the construction project and feedback any concerns residents had and carried out a detailed survey with residents each year to identify trends, key issues, and raise project awareness. This helped us identify and recommend solutions and measures to Tideway and the landlords to help make Carnwath Road estate a better place to live. Some of the key improvements saw the installation of pedestrian crossings along the main road, and improved painting and communal lighting in hallways on the estate. The annual survey saw an increase in respondents on a yearly basis, achieving a 70% response rate in 2018.
During our time on Carnwath Road Estate, we increased resident awareness of the scheme, engaging with 88% of the Carnwath Road Estate.
In addition, we have empowered residents to challenge their landlords to improve their estate. We did this by providing a forum for residents to engage with their landlords at monthly residents’ meetings which over the course of the project have been attended by over a third (36%) of households on the estate. In our recent survey of the estate, 93% of respondents felt that NewmanFrancis kept residents informed; an improvement from 82% in the previous year.
“NewmanFrancis staff members were incredibly eager to help and always followed up on any questions or concerns we had about our estate and the Tideway works close to our home. I was incredibly grateful for their support.”
Firdousi Ahmed, Resident at Carnwath Road
“NewmanFrancis provided an independent resident advice service for the Carnwath Road Estate, which is situated next door to our main Tideway West drive site. NewmanFrancis supported us with our community engagement and keeping residents informed in advance of any key works such as tunnelling and excavation. Their team also helped residents who were impacted by the works with exploring mitigation options”
Jamie Gray, Stakeholder & Consents Manager (West)
"NewmanFrancis provided an excellent bespoke service for our residents, by ensuring that they were well informed and supported throughout the period of disruptive works happening close by to their estate.”
Tina Bull, Head of Housing (Arhag)
