Renfrewshire Council tenant Irene Richmond has become one of the last people in the area to have her home upgraded as part of a £138million improvement programme.

Housing Convener Tommy Williams paid a visit to Mrs Richmond’s home in Bishopton to see first-hand the difference the improvement programme has made.

Cllr Williams with tenant Irene Richmond

Mrs Richmond’s house received a full package of external works including a new roof, rendering, soil vent pipes and rainwater goods.

Mrs Richmond said: “I’ve been here six years and it’s made a big difference. The house looks lovely done up and it’s been brilliant.”

Over the past five years, Renfrewshire Council has been delivering housing improvements to make sure their housing stock meets the Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS).

Thanks to the programme nearly 10,000 homes have received new kitchens, bathrooms and rewiring and over 6500 homes have had new heating systems installed.

Almost 3,500 tenants have also benefitted from external work such as new roofs, rendering, guttering, downpipes, over-cladding and door entry systems.

As well as improvements to council tenants’ homes, a further 1,000 owners in common blocks have also benefitted by sharing the cost of major improvements in buildings and blocks of flats where properties are owned by both the council and individual owners. The council provided grant support to help off-set owners’ costs.

Cllr Williams, Convener of Renfrewshire Council’s Housing and Community Safety Policy Board, said: “This massive improvement programme has been the largest single investment in council housing Renfrewshire has ever seen. Nearly every one of our tenants’ homes has been improved in one way or another. This means that homes have been made more modern, attractive and energy efficient for years to come.

“This has been a long-term and wide ranging project and we have worked extremely hard to ensure that the process has run as smoothly as possible for those affected. That has meant listening and responding to what tenants’ have told us as work has been carried out in their homes and taking action. As a result we have a 91% satisfaction rate.”

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