An £8m Decent Homes refurbishment project has been formally recognised with a celebratory completion event attended by council leaders, contractors, board members and residents.

Lancaster House, in Oldbury, which received extensive refurbishment work including the development of eight new flats on the roof of the building, was completed in June.

Employees from the borough’s biggest social landlord have raised nearly £2000 for Cancer Research UK after running a ‘Race For Life’ event.

Sandwell Homes has a number of garages to let across the Tividale area.

Anybody interested in leasing a garage should contact Tividale Neighbourhood Office on 0121 569 6000 for an application form, or for further information on pricing and availability.

Sandwell Homes has a new interim chief executive.

Paul Field, who has been its finance director and company secretary since 2004, takes up his new role on 1st July, following the retirement of previous chief executive Brian Oakley at the end of June.

Sandwell Homes is running its highly praised ‘Community Chest’ scheme for the third year running in a bid to help improve community relations through worthy projects.

During 2009/10 the fund supported 62 separate projects, which allowed residents to make a positive impact on their community, providing each one with a grant worth up to £500. 

Latin America came to the Black Country this month as elderly and vulnerable tenants in a Smethwick care centre sampled salsa steps and authentic cuisine. 

Sandwell Homes organised the Salsa night at Holly Grange extra care scheme as part of a series of events to make their tenancies more fun, whilst giving the tenants an opportunity to get to know each other better.  

Sandwell Homes is running a resident open day on Monday 14 June, in Princes End, Tipton, to showcase proposals for the refurbishment of homes on the estate under the high-rise stream of the Decent Homes Programme.

Sandwell Homes has moved further up the list of Britain's environmentally friendly companies after coming in at number 21 on the Sunday Times Best Green Companies List.

The organisation has been recognised for its environmental performance, particularly in pledging to cut its CO2 emissions by 37% by 2012.

Sandwell Homes Chief Executive Brian Oakley is to retire after 44 years of public service, 22 of them spent working in Sandwell. Brian will leave his post at the end of June.

Brian has spent the last six years steering the organisation through a two-star and subsequent three-star Audit Inspection in 2008 as well as delivering an on-going £425 million Decent Homes programme, one of the biggest in the country.

Delighted residents in Oldbury have celebrated the £8million pound transformation of high rise block Lancaster House by holding a summer fair.

Sandwell Homes has been recognised at a prestigious national awards ceremony as the best performing regional social landlord in the country.

The Housing Excellence Award, which was presented at Manchester’s Palace Hotel, recognises Sandwell Homes’ high level of performance across all business areas.

Residents have been singing the praises of Sandwell’s improving skyline this month as the Sandwell Decent Homes Partnership celebrates spending £65 million on the borough’s high-rise programme.

Success again! Sandwell Homes has won the RoSPA Gold Award for the third successive year.

The award recognises health and safety excellence by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.

Sandwell Homes is celebrating after scooping a top customer service award.

Replacing the former Charter Mark award, the Customer Service Excellence standard assesses organisations against the following categories: customer insight, culture of the organisation, information and access, delivery, and timeliness and quality of service.

The awards season is upon us and Sandwell Homes is once again in the running for a variety of awards recognising excellent customer service.

Throughout April and May we will be in the running for an ASB award, Social Landlord of the Year and Support/ Care Team of the Year.

Young carers in Sandwell have been given a morale boosting donation of Easter eggs and financial support by The Sandwell Decent Homes Partnership.

The Partnership made a donation to the value of £900 after recognising Sandwell Young Carers’ invaluable contribution to supporting unpaid care work.

Housing chiefs at Sandwell Homes are reiterating the safeguards they have in place to protect residents from potential bogus callers.

The advice comes following a spate of distraction burglaries across the borough and a number of bogus calls being reported by residents.

Residents and Sandwell Council leaders have given the thumbs up to the £8 million transformation of a block of flats that was once a "blot on the landscape".

Sandwell Homes, Sandwell Council's urban design team and construction partners Thomas Vale have worked together on the refurbishment of ten-storey Lancaster House in Oldbury Road, Whiteheath.

Anti-social behaviour co-ordinator Stuart White spoke to Ed Doolan on BBC Radio WM about the Safer Sandwell Partnership's anti-drug dealing campaign. The 'Paranoid' campaign has been spearheaded by Sandwell Homes in Partnership with Sandwell Council, West Midlands Police, Crimestoppers and the private rented sector.

Click here to listen to the interview.

Community Recycling Venture (CRV) are working in partnership with Sandwell Council to provide a household recycling collection to homes in the borough.

CRV's primary goal is to create the link between the ethical issues of developing a more sustainable environment, and the social issues of enabling economic regeneration and employment for community groups and individuals in areas of social exclusion.

Sandwell Homes are now using social networking site Twitter to post news and daily updates.

Go online at www.twitter.com/sandwellhomes to follow us and get the latest information from Sandwell's biggest social landlord.