You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
One to Watch – Katey Ruse, project quality manager at Legal & General Affordable Homes
Katey Ruse is our latest interviewee in our series of up-and-coming housing professionals. She is a project quality manager at Legal & General Affordable Homes, working in London and the South East
Tell us about your job.
My job is to oversee the build stage of our homes. We won’t accept homes unless they meet the high quality and standards set out in the contracts and I ensure that they are up to scratch before taking handover from the developers and passing them on to our internal teams.
Among a vast array of responsibilities, my role includes contract management, through to de-snagging and checking that all the paperwork is compliant with regulations.
This requires constant communication with various teams both across the organisation and in our wider supply chain, so that there’s clarity on the progress and timelines, ensuring we meet our requirements and deadlines set out for our customers.
Overall, we want the customers to be delighted and 100% satisfied when they step into their new home.
READ MORE
Tell us about how you first came to work in housing.
I was assistant to the land director at Notting Hill Genesis (NHG) and that piqued my interest in housing. It’s extremely fulfilling to see schemes go from the design board to becoming fully realised, high-quality homes that you can be proud of and see someone love living in. It’s now been a decade since I started at NHG, then at Sage Homes and now at Legal & General Affordable Homes (LGAH).
What’s your proudest work moment or biggest achievement so far?
Since I started at LGAH, I’ve taken handover of 275 homes across my region. The last one at Cavalier Court in Kent was a handover of 96 homes – my biggest at one time in my job so far.
Checking each home meets our standards is exacting work, but undeniably worth it when the Net Promoter Scores come in from our residents. I’ve received 100% positive ratings on several of my schemes, and you can’t get better than that.
I take pride in making sure that what we deliver looks and feels like a home. Attention to detail is crucial, and while things like fitting flooring in ‘affordable’ homes aren’t standard, we always install it as it’s very important for me to ensure that residents move into a place that feels like home from the outset.
And what has been your hardest moment?
On-site construction is still dominated by men, and some of the old-school types can be harder to deal with because they may feel I am not as experienced as them. Thankfully I’m not easily offended, and this only makes me dig my heels in to make sure no corners are cut.
Sometimes it’s also more difficult getting your voice heard when there are lots of competing priorities. But in my mind, there’s not a substantial difference in delivering a basic spec vs the best spec. More importantly, we are building for real people.
What the best piece of work advice you’ve ever been given?
The best piece of advice that I received is if you want to deliver a first-class service and do your best job, make sure you do work that you care about and you’re invested in delivering to the highest of your abilities. It’s also important to be assertive – you must remember who your work will benefit and champion their right to the best outcome. It’s hard getting on the property ladder, but buying affordable homes should in no way mean lower quality or expectations.
What’s your next step career-wise?
I’d love to progress within the company and take on bigger projects. Currently, my focus is predominantly on LGAH’s partnership schemes with developers where homes are acquired via Section 106 agreements. However, I’d like to gain more experience on projects where LGAH is directly delivering whole developments, which is a growing area for the business.
Who has been the most important person who has helped your career so far – and why?
My first director at Notting Hill Housing, Steve Rawlings, really got me on the right track to furthering my career in housing. His confidence and belief in me helped me to gain experience as he would always encourage me to go for things I wouldn’t have thought I was able to in the role I started in.
At LGAH, Julia Tamlin, Ema Blay, Chantelle Hart and Denise Brown have all supported and inspired me along with other strong women in the industry, some of whom I am now lucky enough to call friends.
If you could change one thing about the housing sector, what would it be?
Quite simply, I’d like people in the sector to remember that, regardless of the types of housing they are developing, all will be home to real-life people in need of somewhere to live, eat, breathe, play and bring up their families. If the end customer is always top of mind, I think we’d see a more positive impact across the wider sector.
What’s the best thing that happened to you this week?
My 10-year-old son has just got a speaking part in a production of Oliver at our local theatre in south London. It’s a big deal for him as he had never even entered an audition before, so we’re all chuffed!
