AN Ayr housing association is promising to reduce social isolation by providing homes to suit individual needs

Chief Executive of Bield in South Ayrshire, Brian Logan has made the pledge to local residents in the hope of improving many lives.

Brian said Bield has set its sights on being positioned as a leading-edge provider of affordable, quality homes and services for Scotland’s older people and very much sees Bield - based around its new five-year business strategy - as being at the beginning of a new chapter.

He said: “This is a chapter where Bield looks a bit different, but where our values endure. A chapter where we start again to do things we want to do, where our tenants and service users are at the heart of everything we do and where we help to shape a Scotland where people of all ages are respected, can make their own choices and are able to live independent and fulfilling lives.

“We’ll consolidate around our core retirement housing product which represents the bulk of our stock but building around that a menu of services for people to choose from – more flexible, more suited to individual need, giving more choice to our tenants and crucially without the reliance on public funding.

“That might be a meals service, it might be home care, it might be personal care, it might be access to technology to allow people to live independently for longer. All of these areas we see as growth areas and areas which we’ve already started to expand upon.”

Brian is optimistic about the future. He added: “This has been the most intense, most challenging and most emotional 12 months of my life. But there is much more to do and I am up for that. I am committed to this sector and I am passionate about Bield.

“I am positive about our future, genuinely enthused by the plans we have made and excited by what lies ahead.”