Teesside commercial landlord offers free accommodation to key workers

ESA Europe have been providing serviced apartments in Middlesbrough, Yarm and Hartlepool to the region’s workers since 2006. With 27 properties in their portfolio, they have been providing flexible, cost effective solutions to workers who come into the region for work.

Catering mainly for the chemical, manufacturing and engineering sectors, their client list includes some of the large corporations within the region, such as ConocoPhillips, Sembcorp, Sabic, Lianhetech and Fuji Film amongst others, who find their project workers enjoy the flexibility of an apartment over a hotel room.

In March this year, the Covid-19 pandemic impacted many businesses, with government guidance suggesting new ways of working across many industries. Those who could work from home were told to do so and only key workers were permitted to work.

As a result, ESA Europe found themselves with empty apartments and wanted to use the resource to help where possible. Katrina Rosser, owner said: “Our model lends itself to the lockdown situation. As self-contained apartments, we were able to continue to operate and provide much needed accommodation to key workers.

“We found that we had empty properties as some guests had gone home where they were able. At the same time, we were hearing of NHS workers that were working in difficult conditions and concerned about returning home to their families.”

Katrina and her team set aside 50% of their portfolio to be used free of charge by frontline NHS staff, during lockdown. One couple who are taking advantage of this are key worker Josh Dennison and his partner Anna McLeary, who is a nurse on a Covid-19 Ward.

Josh said: “During the pandemic me and Anna wanted to do what we could to help, but there is obviously a concern when returning home to family. We live with Anna’s parents and her father has underlying health issues which would have meant we couldn’t work and return home. This opportunity has allowed us to support the effort whilst having the peace of mind that we were not unnecessarily exposing family members to the virus.”

ESA has adopted measures and is following government guidance to ensure the safety of all their guests.

Katrina added: “We have updated our processes which include a minimum of 36hrs between any guests stays. During that time, we are following deep cleaning protocols with anti-virus products. Our housekeeping service, which guests can opt out of if required, is carried out by our team who are all being temperature checked and provided with sufficient PPE.”