Celebrating 100 years. We hear from our previous General Manager, Norman Goldsmith

We recently received congratulations from Norman Goldsmith for our 100th anniversary. Norman was our General Manager during the mid 1970's and 80's.

Norman Goldsmith 

Following the retirement of its driving force, Irene Barclay, it was felt that the Association seemed to lose some impetus. However, it still maintained an enviable housing management service in the spirit of our founders.
Norman, with a vast housing experience in surveying, area improvements, grants and housing development funding was asked if he would like to be interviewed for the new post of General Manager and was subsequently appointed.

Upon taking up the post he inherited a superb housing management team, but the other part of the organisation was failing to meet its potential. Additionally, budgets were tight. Working closely with the then Chairman, George McDonald, Norman overhauled the commercial property portfolio and made agency and advisory services available to other housing organisations to improve income.

Norman's early task came when he discovered that some storage heaters in a small block of eight homes contained lethal blue asbestos. The residents were quickly rehomed, storage heaters removed by a specialist company, alternative heating provided, and residents returned to their homes.

As income improved, other ways to contribute to housing in the area were appearing. Funding was secured for the improvement of a terrace of derelict houses in Eversholt Street as well as some terraced houses in Camden Town. Norman said that “they are still looking good” when he was at the recent centenary celebrations. A programme evolved and put in effect to upgrade some of the older homes, starting with St Mary's and was ongoing. An appointment was also made to the team for investigating the possibility of developing shared ownership schemes. 

Working closely with George McDonald, the team brought about real change by:

• Bringing the operations to a modern (1970-80’s) approach
• Overhauling the financial structure
• Treating the commercial property as an income operation
• Overhauling the Health and Safety approach
• Reviving the extinct development capacity
• Being one of four Associations firstly in the country to develop jointly, with a specialist company, full computerisation of all operations
• Purchase of the James Hartnell Estate, being the only Association in NW London with the ability with finance and management skills for the commercial element
• Purchase of the freehold of the Highgate Estate which was on a lease expiring in the 2030's.

Norman is rightfully proud that his team worked hard to make sure residents were put at the heart of their decisions and said that it is "reassuring to note that it's tenets are still in practice today".

These achievements are indeed quite something, showing the range of positive change activity needed to adapt to evolving circumstances and ensure continuing focus on getting the best outcomes for the community. They will have certainly helped to strengthen the foundations of the organisation, helping us to thrive and grow to this day, and as Norman said "nothing would have happened without the contribution and teamwork from all the staff.'

Our recent joining of forces with Places for People is the latest way we have adapted over the course of the last 100 years to enable us to continue to focus on what is most important for residents: working to making sure our services make people's lives easier, that homes are safe, decent and affordable and communities are strong, vibrant and cohesive. We are confident that by working together in partnership, that we will deliver on the benefits of the merger in the coming years, including significantly increased investment in improving the quality of homes. Homes people can be proud to live in.

One final memory that sticks out for Norman, is when as a "Governor of the rooftop nursery I was asked to be Father Christmas and hand out presents to around 35 children. Having given out about 10 presents, a little boy asked, "have you got a present for me?" "Of course I have" Father Christmas replied. It was about 10 presents later and he still hadn't got his presents.

He repeated his question with my same answer. With three presents left in the sack he came up to me and said, "if you haven't got a present in there for me Father Christmas, I'll do you! I wasn't done, but it was the only time I was severely threatened!"

Thanks to Mr Goldsmith for taking the time to share his memories and the work of the St Pancras HA team in the 1970's and 1980's.