Member Article

Life Gets Warmer At 50

After two months of unemployment Gosforth resident Alison Craddock has turned the heat up on a new job thanks to the launch of the UK’s largest regional energy efficiency initiative - Warm Up North.

Alison, 50, who was made redundant by Northern Rock Asset Management earlier this year, has gained a new role at Warm Up North’s Newcastle-based call centre as a personal customer manager.

The Warm Up North initiative worth up to £200m is a landmark partnership between British Gas and nine North East local authorities, which aims to improve energy efficiency and make homes more comfortable in the region, whilst creating up to 75 direct jobs and up to a further 500 in the supply chain.

The new role was an extra birthday surprise for mum-of-two Alison, who was celebrating her 50th birthday at Edinburgh Zoo, at the time she received the telephone call to say she had landed the new job.

Alison said: “After eight years working for Northern Rock in the mortgage contact centre as a team leader, I made the difficult decision not to move to Sunderland following the closure of the Gosforth office and therefore had to take redundancy.

“This was nerve-racking as I had never been unemployed before and with a family to support it was tough, but I was lucky enough to gain an interview and secure a new job with British Gas’ Warm Up North initiative.

“I received the call to confirm the outcome of my interview whilst I was at Edinburgh Zoo, during a weekend break celebrating my birthday. I was so happy and proud to be offered the role, which involves me being a dedicated contact for customers who qualify for new energy efficiency measures in their homes.

“I have really enjoyed my training, which has been delivered in a thorough and highly professional way. Getting to know my new colleagues has also been great, we are a highly dedicated team and I feel confident that we will offer a great service to customers of the Warm Up North scheme.”

To find out more about how Warm Up North could help make your home more energy efficient call the team on free phone 0800 294 8073 or visit www.warmupnorth.com.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Warm Up North .