Manningham Housing Association has won the prestigious British Standards Institution (BSI) Users Award for Sustainability.

The accolade, which recognises the use of voluntary standards to enable sustainability, was presented at the BSI Standards Conference and Awards at the Park Plaza Victoria in London.

Formed in 1901, BSI is appointed by the UK Government as the national standards body, holds the Royal Charter, and represents UK interests at the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), the International Electrotechnical Commission and the European Standards Organisations.

Its role is to help improve the quality and safety of products, services and systems by enabling the creation of standards and encouraging their use.

In a joint citation, the judges said of the Sustainability Award winner:

“Manningham Housing Association has used BS 76005:2017 Valuing People through Diversity and Inclusion to ensure they can provide great customer care to over 6,000 diverse residents who live in their high-quality affordable homes across in Bradford and Keighley.

“Use of the standard has helped them ensure they have a better understanding of all their customers’ needs which in turn enables them retain customer satisfaction ratings of 90% but also helped them to put in place additional support and programming needed during the pandemic.”

Ulfat Hussain, Manningham Housing Association Deputy Chief Executive, said:

“I am proud of the team and delighted at the recognition this high profile award brings them.

“Covid-19 brought inevitable changes to the way we operate, including a need to use technology more effectively to assist service delivery and monitoring of performance.

“The move towards greater digitisation made us more sustainable and will continue to serve us well into the future.

“Manningham Housing Association is a ‘glass half full’ organisation and we always seek to gain positives from every situation we face.”

Barrington Billings, Manningham Housing Association Chair, said:

“Winning the BSI Users Award for Sustainability is a remarkable but well-deserved achievement, particularly given our relatively small size.

“We take sustainability incredibly seriously and, despite the many difficulties the pandemic brought, it is heartening to know the judges felt that Manningham Housing Association not only rose to the challenge but raised the bar.

“There are more dark days ahead as the cost of living crisis continues to bite but I know our staff will continue to be guided in all they do by the bright beacon of hope.”