Wates Living Space is the first contractor organisation in Scotland to achieve the TPAS accreditation under a new assessment process launched in 2014.

TPAS Scotland developed the accreditation to recognise best practice in tenant participation. Contractors complete a self-assessment framework explaining how they, together with their partnering landlord clients, involve tenants and residents. They have to show evidence of how they comply with key competencies in resident involvement through ten separate criteria. Each submission is scrutinised by a TPAS panel for verification and semi structured interviews conducted with tenants, contractor staff and the contractors’ clients.

Wates Living Space Scotland is committed to continuous improvement and recognise the importance of working effectively and collaboratively with tenants and landlords. More than 700 pages of evidence was collected for the submission which secured a Level 6 Pass equating to a Gold standard evaluation of Wates services for tenant participation.

Lesley Baird, chief executive of TPAS Scotland, said: “We’re delighted to award Wates Living Space our gold accreditation. This is the highest level of our re-launched accreditation and it’s not an easy standard to achieve. We’ve been impressed by the way Wates Living Space works in partnership with landlords and tenants and places its emphasis on people and communities.

“Our assessment has highlighted a genuine will to listen to, engage with and learn from tenants and tenant organisations. Wates Living Space’s willingness to play a leading role championing those values across the sector should be commended.”

Mick Holling, interim regional director for Wates Living Space, said: “I’m very proud of the team for their hard work and effort in achieving the Gold accreditation. I’m sure collating the evidence for submission was challenging at time, but exercises like this are incredibly important for our business. It helps us to identify areas of best practice and check the consistency of our approach in Tenant involvement and customer care, providing a tool for continuous improvement.”