Hackney Council is taking its repairs teams on the road, announcing a borough-wide rollout of estate “action days” after a trial run saw plumbers, electricians and carpenters descend on a single estate and sort problems in 20 homes in just one day.
The pilot at Fellows Court put a full multi-trade team on site for more than seven hours, working through a packed list of outstanding jobs at an average of three repairs per property. The reception from residents was so positive that the council has decided to formalise the idea as the Hackney estate repairs programme, with a rolling calendar of action days planned across estates throughout the borough.
Cllr Dylan Law, deputy mayor and cabinet lead for housing, said the first event had gone down well with tenants. “Because of how well it’s gone today, the plan is to make it official and have a rolling basis of repairs action dates across all estates in the borough,” he said.
He added that lots of residents had come out to meet the teams, allowing staff to fix a string of long-standing issues there and then, on the same day.
What got fixed at Fellows Court
The Fellows Court blitz covered the full spectrum of everyday housing repairs. The team fixed leak damage, refitted swollen doors, repainted walls, treated damp and mould, sorted plumbing faults, installed new lights and sockets, and repaired UPVC windows. They even inspected the disabled toilet in the estate’s community hall, with a replacement now due to be ordered.
Jobs that could not be finished on the day were logged and will be followed up and arranged for another time — but with officers on the doorstep, every issue at least got seen and recorded in person.
Why the action-day model is different
The traditional repairs process relies on residents reporting faults and then waiting for an appointment slot. The action-day approach flips that on its head: instead of waiting for the phone to ring, the council brings the tradespeople to the estate, knocks on doors and assesses problems first hand.
Residents told the council they valued the chance to speak face to face with repair staff and have issues looked at in person, rather than trying to describe a leak or a sticking door over the phone or through an online form. For the council, the direct contact means officers can see the true scale of a problem — and spot related issues in the same visit — rather than relying on second-hand descriptions.
Fellows Court is home to 190 households, which means the 20 visits covered just over a tenth of the estate in a single day. Keep up that pace and a handful of repeat visits would clear the entire estate — a simple bit of arithmetic that helps explain why the council is confident the Hackney estate repairs programme can be repeated estate by estate across the borough.
Part of a wider push on housing
The repairs day was organised in response to resident feedback and forms part of Hackney Council‘s wider efforts to bring down repair waiting times and lift tenant satisfaction — a challenge facing social landlords across the capital.
It comes as the borough’s finances remain under strain. The council has been open about the severe pressures on its budgets, recently cutting its capital budget by £100m, while the now Green-led administration has also been making the case against austerity at a national summit of council leaders. Against that backdrop, a repairs model that squeezes more completed jobs out of every working day has obvious appeal.
The council is also continuing to invest in the borough’s young people, having recently secured £1.3m to transform youth services — a reminder that the estate programme sits within a broader effort to improve everyday life on Hackney’s estates.
What happens next
The council now plans to make the action days official, with a rolling programme of repairs dates across all estates in the borough. For tenants, the practical tip is simple: when notice arrives that the repair teams are coming to your estate, have your full list of outstanding issues ready — the teams carry most trades with them, so problems big and small can be tackled on the spot.
If the Fellows Court pilot is anything to go by, sometimes the fastest way to clear a repairs backlog is not to wait for the phone to ring — but to go out and knock on doors instead.
