One to watch – Nivene Powell, head of communities, EcoWorld London

Insight14.07.227.00 AM by Jess Mccabe

This month’s interviewee in Inside Housing’s series on the next generation of housing leaders is Nivene Powell, head of communities at EcoWorld London. Nivene was recommended by Heng Leong Cheong, the organisation’s chief executive

Nivene’s role involves running skills and employment training schemes for local people

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This month’s interviewee in Inside Housing’s series on the next generation of housing leaders is Nivene Powell, head of communities at @EcoWorldLondon #UKhousing

Tell us about your job.

I work at EcoWorld London – we’re a property developer with more than 5,000 new homes of all tenures in the pipeline and a strong focus on working in partnership with communities. I spend my days meeting with the communities surrounding our schemes (whether that be charities, local schools, voluntary organisations or other stakeholders), finding out what they need. I try to understand the issues that affect them and how we can work together to resolve them.

As part of this, I lead on delivering EcoWorld London’s social value programme and Section 106 planning obligations. That includes managing our skills and employment training schemes for local people. My job also includes sourcing volunteering opportunities for staff and engaging with local schools, colleges and universities. The latter includes offering work placements and careers talks.

Our team recently helped Green Dragon Primary School in Brentford to create a new outdoor space where pupils – many of whom live in apartment blocks with no gardens – could learn about nature.

When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A nurse. I suppose the caring aspect of that is something very integral to my role now.

Growing up, my primary and secondary schools were surrounded by social housing. Playing with friends in these areas, I noticed that there was so much that could be improved. So after the birth of my daughter, I decided to embark on a career in housing – with the aim of helping to improve quality of life for communities.

I worked at Notting Hill Housing before moving on to the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham – and then other roles.

What has been your proudest work moment or biggest achievement?

My proudest moment at EcoWorld London was launching a pre-employment training scheme at our Kew Bridge site. We set it up in response to the sharp increase in unemployment in Hounslow during coronavirus – which was hit particularly hard by the closure of Heathrow Airport.

We’re offering unemployed people in the borough training worth circa £2,000 per person, which equips them with the certifications, skills and experience needed to work on a construction site. So far, we’ve seen 60 people complete the course.

And what has been your hardest moment?

A very hard moment is when an organisation must restructure and redundancies have to be implemented. This happened to me in a previous role – however I decided to use the change as an opportunity to gain new skills.

Who has been the most important person who has helped your career so far, and why?

I’m grateful to the managers across the public, private, voluntary and community sectors who have supported and believed in me during my career. But people shouldn’t underestimate how much they can help themselves. Often success comes down to proactively going out there and trying to make good things happen for yourself
and others.

If you could change one thing about the housing sector, what would it be?

For central government to increase funding to build more and better-quality social housing.

One to Watch series

Picture: Getty

In our ‘one to watch’ series, we speak to up-and-coming housing leaders. They discuss their job, how they got to where they are and their ambitions for the future.

We aim to feature staff from across the sector.

Click here to nominate yourself or a colleague for inclusion

One to Watch series:

Alicia Walker – head of policy, research and campaigns at Centrepoint

Matthew Beetar – equality, diversity and inclusion specialist at Accent Group

Morgan Lynch – assistant development and delivery manager at Home Group

Rosalyn Springer – partnership manager (social value) at MTVH

Andreia Pinto – senior customer care co-ordinator at L&G Affordable Homes

Chris Collins – homeownership officer at Hightown

Tasmin Ross – HR officer at River Clyde Homes

Kerry Clayton – governance and compliance manager at Elderpark Housing

Eden Bailey – senior head of housing services, Hft