Change of trading name from Margaret Blackwood Housing Association to Blackwood
August 31, 2011
I would like to you to tell you about the exciting changes taking place at Margaret Blackwood Housing Association.
We have decided to radically rebrand the organisation. This change has been made to reflect our new outlook and personality, and our enthusiasm to deliver excellent services.
We wanted to create a brand that was bright and modern, and that reflected the different services we provide in a clear and balanced way. It was for this reason that we have decided to change the trading name of the organisation, to distinguish between our housing and our care services.
Our housing services will now be known as Blackwood Homes. We chose to call ourselves Blackwood Homes, rather than Blackwood Housing, as we provide homes for people, not just a place to live.
We now have a name for our Care & Support services: Blackwood Care.
Our development services will now be known as Blackwood Development.
Our subsidiary, Blackwood Foundation, retains the same name, but it is now more clearly part of the Blackwood family.
We have not changed our Registered Name, Margaret Blackwood Housing Association Limited. It is only our Trading Name that has changed. However, we felt that the name Margaret Blackwood Housing Association only promoted our housing services. The care and support services we provide make up half of the organisation's activity and we needed a name that presented these services clearly and strongly.
It was for a similar reason that we chose to include a Development arm to our trading name. Having a strong identity for our development activity will help us to compete for housing funding and strengthen our position as a specialised developer of housing suitable for people with disabilities.
Dr Margaret Blackwood is still an enormous inspiration to all staff at Blackwood and it is for this reason that we chose to retain the name "Blackwood". In times where cuts to benefits and public funding are threatening to stop people with disabilities from living independently, the legacy that Margaret has given us encourages us more than ever to provide strong and sustainable services. The new brand demonstrates our renewed enthusiasm in the face of cuts and our determination to provide excellent housing and care services.
We have a reinvigorated determination to join the collective voice fighting for the rights of people with disabilities and to speak against cuts that jeopardize the services supporting people to live independently. We hope that Margaret would approve of this as both a step forward and a return to our roots.
If you have any more questions about the rebranding or other improvements that we are working on, please don't hesitate to contact us.
Steve White
Chief Executive
