Community Projects

Fyne Homes, More Than Housing…

Our commitment to develop a physical asset base of housing for the communities is matched by our desire to develop sustainable communities. Fyne Homes has a proven track record in delivering Community regeneration and social enterprise activities which have a lasting benefit for the communities in which we operate. 

Fyne Homes has taken an active role in the development of a collaborative Community regeneration and social enterprise strategy for Argyll and Bute.  We aim to raise the profile of Housing Associations in relation to regeneration activities and will continue to take this pro-active role to enable us to develop, deliver and evaluate community regeneration and social enterprise activities which meet the needs of the communities across our operational area. 

We have developed five initial collaborative projects to allow us to work collectively with West Highland, ACHA and Dunbritton Housing Association, these five collaborative projects are:

• Homelessness Awareness Raising project (Fyne Homes Lead) – raising awareness on housing access issues.

• Money Advice for Tenants – (ACHA Lead) seeks to provide support and advice to tenants aiming to maximise their income and help them overcome the burden of debts.

• Sustainability and Tackling Fuel Poverty (Fyne Homes Lead) – providing information and support to tenants facing fuel poverty to improve their energy efficiency and reduce their energy usage via insulation etc.

• Construction Skills work with Schools (Fyne Homes Lead) – raising awareness on opportunities in the construction sector with school pupils.

• Supporting Training and Employment projects (Dunbritton Lead) – supporting employment and training opportunities across the area.

• Wider Role Cost Benefit Analysis and Future Collaborative Development (Fyne Homes Lead) – learning from projects delivered over the past 5 years.

In addition to this we also aim to take forward a number of projects which fit with Fyne Homes priorities and the priorities of our tenants, these are:

• Rural Outreach and Information Service – in recognition of the rural and remote context in which we operate we will be providing an outreach service to take information and offer tenants across the operational area the opportunity to engage in tenant activities.

• Bute Recycling Knowledge Transfer Partnership – building on the success of the Fyne Futures Recycling activity we have supported a graduate placement to develop bio-diesel and glass processing activities to further develop the business and create additional employment.

• Bute Extreme Sports Park – working with a group of young people on Bute to develop a wheeled sports park as a resource for young people on the island.

• Biogas – recognising that we have an untapped energy supply in the form of cattle slurry that causes pollution problems across the area, we have been working with farmers, the Agricultural Forum and Highlands and Islands Community Energy Company to establish a social enterprise business model to take biogas forward.

• Wind Energy Pilot Work – as part of a national pilot project involving housing associations in identifying potential community energy potential from wind.

• Tarbert Village Hall – providing support for Capital refurbishment and new build costs to deliver a community facility for the people of Tarbert,

• Fuel Poverty Reduction – building on work undertaken by our maintenance department to offer support to tenants facing fuel poverty.

• Advice Network Support – providing support to Argyll and Bute Advice Network to ensure tenants have access to quality advice and information across the area.

• Bute Local Produce Development – working with 3 local organisations, Argyll and Bute Council and Argyll and Bute Agriculture Forum to develop and co-ordinate a supply of local produce for the island, improving health and reducing carbon footprint.

• Port Bannatyne Petangue – supporting a group of tenants in Port Bannatyne to develop healthy activities in the form of a Petangue Facility (Petangue is a form of bowls).

Through the Rural Outreach service and our Tenant Participation work we aim to continue to work with tenants to identify community regeneration and social enterprise projects which will enhance communities,  improve the lives of tenants and ensure sustainability.