The Wheatley Group has announced its plans to invest more than £100 million over the next five years in maintaining and improving communities across Central Scotland.

The huge investment will coincide with, and complement, an overhaul of the Group's environmental teams - with a recruitment drive under way for almost 200 jobs, apprenticeships and training places.

Wheatley Group Director of Housing Olga Clayton said: "This is a massive statement of intent in our mission to make homes and lives better for our 200,000 customers across Scotland."

Almost half of the opportunities are ring-fenced for customers of Wheatley's subsidiaries and their families, some of whom live in the most disadvantaged communities in Scotland.

Wheatley, Scotland's leading housing, care and property-management group – is recruiting for a number of posts including: 

• 91 full-time environmental staff jobs;

• 45 environmental apprenticeships; and

• 45 environmental trainee opportunities.

The apprenticeships will be open to unemployed young people living in Wheatley communities.

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The traineeships are available, under Wheatley's new Changing Lives programme, to people needing extra help to get on the employment ladder, including homeless, single people and reformed offenders. The apprenticeships are for two years and trainee positions are for one year.

Wheatley employs over 2400 staff including housing officers, factoring agents, care workers and support staff, as well as around 560 environmental staff. The new-look, locally-based Neighbourhood Environmental Teams (NETs) will be charged every week with cleaning 4000 closes and 127 multi-storey blocks, as well as maintaining back courts, moving bulk items and cutting grass and trees. 

The NETs provide their award-winning range of environmental services to a number of Wheatley's Registered Social Landlords (RSL) across Scotland, including the country's largest, GHA and also Cube Housing Association, Loretto Housing Association and West Lothian Housing Partnership.

Olga Clayton added: "In Glasgow alone over the past 13 years, we have invested £1.5 BILLION in improving and modernising over 80,000 affordable homes.

"We will continue to invest in our properties, as well as build thousands of new homes. But we also want to do all we can – working with local authorities and Scottish Government – to ensure our customers also have local communities they are proud to live in. 

"That's why, going forward, we will invest over £20 million a year across the Group on providing and strengthening these essential environmental services.

"We know from customer research our NETs and the great work they do are already hugely popular with the people we work for. We are confident the changes and improvements we are now making will take our already very high customer satisfaction levels even higher.

"We believe Wheatley is a leading employer of choice and we are looking through our recruitment drive to attract new recruits passionate about providing excellent services that delight our customers."

(MH)