Staff profiles
The following Staff Profiles are available to view:
Ahmed Hamad, Senior Project Manager (Property)
Dean Nicholson, Head of Customer Services
Julie Williams, Senior Road Safety Officer (Highways & Engineering)
John Winterbottom, Building Maintenance Manager (Property)
Matt Broadbent, ICT Service Desk Manager (ICT)
Tammy Brown, Customer Service Officer (One Stop Shop)
Sylvia Eden, Divisional Manager (Property)
Gordon Anderson, Principal Engineer (Highways & Engineering)
Paul Bruffell, Cycling & Walking Officer (Highways & Engineering)
Andrea McCoy, Customer Service Officer (One Stop Shop)
Please read on for a selection of staff profiles from across Unity’s teams.
Ahmed Hamad, Senior Project Manager (Property)
“I joined Unity to help deliver children centres and other construction projects for Oldham. Unity now provides the potential to develop my career by gaining experience on a range of regeneration projects, working in a consultancy environment and is very supportive in helping me become a chartered surveyor.
“Already having work experience in the property, construction and commercial sectors, gained from working client-side, I can help enhance the quality of services that Unity offers to our clients.”
Ahmed has more than 10 year’s experience of managing residential and commercial new build and refurbishment projects. This has included a wide range of Manchester-based residential city centre luxury and affordable apartments, as well as international commercial office and power station fit-out projects. During this time Ahmed has gained valuable experience by ensuring that projects are delivered on time and within the required budget. Ahmed’s local and international background means he is undaunted by a project’s scale and is accustomed to working to high standards, which often exceed client expectations.
Dean Nicholson, Head of Customer Services
“I joined Unity to make things happen, to help people embrace change, and to share ideas and experiences so that we can make a difference to those that use and deliver our services.
“I am very excited about joining such a significant joint venture partnership and being part of a team that is clearly committed to providing better everyday services to customers and communities. Unity has a strong strategic mission and it is one I firmly believe in.”
Dean is an experienced service and operations manager, having led front end customer services, back office processing, business support, contact and shared service centres. He has also led on a number of change programmes working within local government and has been responsible for the delivery of services to many local government clients.
Julie Williams, Senior Road Safety Officer (Highways & Engineering)
“I always welcomed the move to Unity. This change has helped me to concentrate on the team’s job of providing road safety education, training and publicity for all ages and types of road traffic users across the borough.
“Our core team does an excellent job delivering generic road safety education across schools. This is complimented by the ‘3 ‘til 7 project’, a Government-funded scheme seeking to reduce child pedestrian casualties by focusing on when and where accidents happen.
“What I feel is really important is to develop relationships with colleagues from our various partners and agencies to help make a real difference to the people of Oldham. This is central to successful partnerships and something I value highly at Unity.”
This is Julie’s twentieth year working on behalf of Oldham Council and now Unity. The school travel advisory service is also based within Julie’s team. This enables schools to produce a travel plan setting out a package of measures to improve child safety and reduce car use journeys. The Government target is for all schools to have a travel plan by 2010 and Oldham is well on the way to achieving this.
John Winterbottom, Building Maintenance Manager (Property)
“Initially I was apprehensive about the move into Unity having spent many years working for the council. I have always enjoyed working in the public sector – being local I get great job satisfaction improving Oldham’s physical environment.
“Having said that, I was supportive of Unity and the difference working within a private organisation creates. It has provided the stimulus to really make a difference to my job.
“As a team we needed to improve and move forward. With the backing from within Unity and the support from our private partners, along with the reassurance from the council, I can see changes beginning to take shape for the service we provide across Oldham.
“This can be seen with the development of the team, further new appointments we intend to make and the way we’re adopting new ideas. It’s also evident in the way we are supported to grow as professionals. For instance, I have a personal development plan and have been encouraged to join a communities of practice group of Building Surveyors working across Mouchel’s various UK property offices to bring best practice back to Oldham.
“I am also provided with new training opportunities including a comprehensive management training course and support to become a chartered surveyor with the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. It’s now up to us to make the most of these opportunities.
“The future offers greater challenges, but with help and a drive to develop, I can see better services to schools, leisure facilities and public buildings. We’re now better placed to make a real difference across Oldham Borough.”
John manages the Building Maintenance team, providing a building surveying service, including the delivery of property projects valued up to £250,000. John has a building surveying background and has previously spent 20 years working for Oldham Council in various building related capacities ranging from Joiner to Principal Building Surveyor.
Danielle Partington, Assistant Finance Officer (Exchequer Services)
“I didn’t think Unity Partnership would affect what I do – thought it would be the same but under a new name. This certainly hasn’t been the case.
“It has been a real challenge as systems have changed and, while it’s taken a lot longer than I thought it would, we are now beginning to find our feet.
“What’s changed the most for me is the culture of the organisation. Communication is better – we now have town meetings – and I think senior management are a lot more open and approachable. It means a lot to be spoken to in a respectful manner.”
Danielle worked for Oldham Council for a short period before being transferred into Unity. Her role is to provide administrative support to the Exchequer team, responsible for the collection of council income and payment of council tax and housing benefit, working in a complex and sensitive area directly affecting the lives of citizens.
Matt Broadbent, ICT Service Desk Manager (ICT)
“Coming from a private sector background I had a relaxed view of joining Unity, and it wasn’t until a few months before the partnership was established that I found out ICT was one of the services to be transferred.
“Since then much of the day-to-day work has stayed the same – with a few new appointments the team is much the same, providing the same service to the same clients.
“Having said that some change is inevitable. This can be seen in the raised expectations of the client who now count on more, which is something we’ve had to meet, helped by performance targets prioritising what’s important.
“It’s also helped to confirm that we do provide a good service, and allows us to monitor and ensure the service continues.
“How do I see the future? Interesting and challenging! We need to raise the profile of Unity within the council, work closer as a partner and continue to meet raised expectations as well.”
Matt joined Oldham Council in 2005 from the private sector to manage the ICT Service Desk, and now looks after a team of eight dealing with IT queries. This team has been recently extended to support the implementation of the Agresso project.
The service desk can be contacted on ext 1000 or it.servicedesk@unitypartnership.com, and is open 8am to 5.30pm Monday to Thursday and 8am to 5pm on Friday, with a voicemail service out of hours.
Tammy Brown, Customer Service Officer (One Stop Shop)
“I only joined Unity this year, so my main challenge has been learning the ropes within the Customer Service team in the One Stop Shop. It was quite a rigorous recruitment process and there is a lot to learn, but it’s certainly been worth coming here.
“The team I am part of focuses on providing a good level of customer service and we really want to help the public. My area is revenue and benefits, and it’s such an emotive area for customers. It’s great when we can turn around problems and solve them for families as you know you’re making a difference.
“I would recommend working for Unity to anyone as it’s a really friendly team and a refreshing place to work.”
Tammy works in the Contact Centre within the Revenues and Benefits team, and deals with a range of areas, including council tax and housing benefits.
Sylvia Eden, Divisional Manager (Property)
“I joined Oldham from its private sector partner Mouchel and enjoy working alongside my colleagues from Oldham Council. The combination of public sector responsibility and the commercial reality of the private sector provides a framework for improving service delivery. I’m also relishing the responsibility Unity has given me.
“I see it as my job to help bring together what’s worked well in other areas within Mouchel and local authorities to provide the breadth of service, and introduce new systems and procedures to allow Unity to provide a more effective and efficient service.”
Sylvia joined Mouchel in May 2001 as a Graduate Building Surveyor for Mouchel’s Northern Property division, where she was responsible for the management of the Greater Manchester Fire Authority Construction Related Services, followed by a secondment to the Impact Partnership. These roles involved the co-ordination of multi-disciplinary teams to deliver a wide variety of projects.
At Unity, Sylvia manages the capital works programme, coordinates all construction and design management training, and has played a pivotal role to implement new systems, including Atrium, and working across project management, property maintenance and building surveying.
Gordon Anderson, Principal Engineer (Highways & Engineering)
“Oldham has traditionally had a strong Highways & Engineering team, successfully managing capital projects well above the value of similar local authorities. However, going back two years, I felt we needed a new way forward and that coincided with Oldham’s (Council) decision to look into a joint venture with the private sector.
“Since moving to Unity we have reorganised the office with a physical change for the better, and brought back together the Design & Construction team within Highways. The new systems we have in place, while at times have been challenging, are now helpful in managing time and costs.
“Having a settled team, with a diverse mix of council, Unity and recent appointments, we are again beginning to see significant engineering projects on the horizon and I am positive about the move into Unity.”
A chartered civil engineer, Gordon manages a team of 10 and previously worked for Oldham Council for 15 years, joining as a graduate engineer before transferring to Unity in May 2007.
Paul Bruffell, Cycling & Walking Officer (Highways & Engineering)
“My passion is to help cycling become part of everyday life and this means major investment in cycling infrastructure with the necessary resources to achieve this goal.
“Throughout my career there has always been inadequate resources to take advantage of the growing funding opportunities available for cycling. As a consequence, cycling is seen as a marginalized activity affecting very few individuals.
“Unity, working with the council, has helped Oldham to bid for cycling funds from government departments and the National Lottery – this will help to fundamentally change the perception of cycling once and for all.
“Unity has also provided more information and financial control in the running of projects. With the increasing level of funding dedicated to cycling, such applications are essential for the successful management and delivery of cycling projects.”
Paul has more than 10 year’s experience ranging from the formulation of cycling policy, research and analysis, preparing funding bids, outline and detailed designs, managing capital programmes and negotiating cycle facilities through the planning process.
He now has expertise in developing large scale projects that fully maximise the potential and impact of cycling. Paul chairs the Merseyside LTP Cycling sub-group and is currently Secretary to the Greater Manchester LTP Cycling sub-group.
Andrea McCoy, Customer Service Officer (One Stop Shop)
“The whole team is keen to provide a better service for local citizens as customer service is at the heart of what we want to achieve. The Civic Centre is a place where people really do want to do their best.
“At the moment, I don’t see the One Stop Shop getting as many repeat visits as we’re used to and I feel that we’re getting happier customers, but the number of new queries to deal with is phenomenal. I think this is a sign of the times.”
Andrea has worked for Oldham Council for 20 years, with a break in service to concentrate on family life. She is part of a team of 18 staff and has worked through various changes from the old general rate system to the current council tax.
The emphasis of most of her work now is on benefits and welfare, and dealing with customers who have many reasons for visiting the Civic Centre. Ultimately, the value in her job is being part of an enthusiastic and experienced team who know they can make a difference to local residents.