What has BDPG Achieved in 2022?

Well, 2022 certainly had it all didn’t it? We were lucky enough to see two total lunar eclipses, the UK had countless Prime Ministers, and the incredible Lionesses finally brought football home. Now as much as the England Women’s team were goals galore, here at Blue Door we hit a lot of our goals too! Here’s a look back at our year and what we’re extremely proud to have achieved.

Making Things Seamless

We’re big on making our team’s lives easier, in fact we’re huge on it. We created and implemented a brand new CRM system for all staff to use and tailor to their needs. It did involve a bit of data migration, but we’re not complaining now everything is up and running. It has allowed us to streamline our processes, giving us more time and flexibility to work with our Guardians and property owners. Win, win!

Staying In The Loop

There is nothing worse than not knowing what you’re talking about. Here at Blue Door, staff training is always at the top of our Christmas list. We’re proud to have a team who are always keen to learn and progress, which is why we love organising training and staff development days. 

Here’s a quick insight, one was all about LinkedIn and knowing how to utilise the platform for specific business needs. Safe to say it worked, with one of our members increasing their following by over 1,200. If you haven’t already, give us a follow on LinkedIn here (not at all a shameless plug!).

Having All The Contacts

They say it’s not what you know, but who you know. Well, we guess we’re out of that old saying because we have both. Thanks to the team’s dedication and hard work, 2022 allowed us to build connections with huge organisations, some of which have over 70,000 properties in their portfolios and 300 sites across London.

We don’t like to slow down either, we’re part of over 20 industry-related groups and memberships to make sure we’re always in the know about all things property and guardianships.

Starring On The Big Screen

If you’re signed up to our newsletter and have read our blog, then you’re bound to have seen the news about us being on the big screen. We were honoured and lucky enough to have been asked to work on Shelter’s 2022 Christmas TV campaign. We can’t stress enough the importance and incredible work this charity does. You can learn more about our involvement here.

Safety Is Key

Health and wellbeing has always been at the forefront of Blue Door and that didn’t slip in 2022, and will certainly continue in 2023. Our incredible health and safety team created, introduced and rolled out a brand new Safety Management System (SMS) to help manage safety risks. This allowed us to have structured processes for daily business functions and tasks. Our team even went that step further (like they always do!) and provided company-wide training and resources so everyone is aware of the new system.

Providing Flexibility

If the past couple years have taught us anything, it’s all about having the procedures in place to offer flexibility for your team. One of our project manager’s opened up our flexible way of working for our property owners and Guardians too. By creating various resources such as presentations, slide decks and documents, it opened us up to a new virtual way of training, onboarding and communication.

Quite surprised we managed to narrow it down to just our top 6 achievements as 2022 really did spoil us. From everyone here at Blue Door, we wish you all the best for 2023 and whatever adventures it may bring. As always, if you have any questions, even if you just fancy a chat, our inbox is always open.

The Nuts & Bolts of Commercial Insurance

Whether you’re a small or big business, commercial insurance is always going to crop up. All the different types of insurance can get a little messy, which is why we’re going to do everyone a favour and break it down so we’re all on the same page.

What is Commercial Insurance?

In a nuts (and bolts) shell, commercial insurance is insurance that protects businesses against losses and claims for things like damage to property or injury to employees. It’s a general term covering various types of insurance, such as public-liability insurance, employer’s liability insurance and professional indemnity.

What are the different types of Commercial Insurance?

There is a huge commercial umbrella when it comes to insurance, and here’s the most common:

• Commercial property insurance

• Motor insurance

• Tool and equipment insurance

• Cyber liability insurance

• Business interruption insurance

Which Commercial Insurance is right for you?

The insurance game isn’t an easy one to play. It’s hard knowing what insurance to take out and which one is right for your needs. There’s a few tips and tricks you can use to help make your decision. You should consider the following:

• Does your business deal with members of the public?

• What type of service or product do you offer?

• Are you a sole trader or an employer?

• Are you a limited or public company?

• Do you have a premises for your business?

• Do you use a vehicle or any special equipment for your business?

By answering those questions, it will help to give you more of a feel about what type of insurance you’re going to need. We’re going to dive into all things property insurance, after all property is our main player at Blue Door.

Let’s talk Commercial Property Insurance shall we?

Commercial property insurance is a must have. This type of insurance makes sure you’re covered for any cost of repairing, rebuilding, or replacing stock/equipment on your premises. 

What does commercial property insurance cover?

• Burst pipes

• Flooding

• Theft

• Fire

• Weather-related damage such as fallen trees

Commercial property insurance can be broken up into four areas, all of which are essential when owning a property or premises for business.

Buildings Insurance

Buildings insurance will cover the cost of repairing or rebuilding your premises if it is destroyed or damaged from events such as flooding or fire. 

This type of insurance isn’t actually required by law, but we do highly recommend it. If you’re renting your premises, this insurance is your landlord’s responsibility - but we’d always double-check with the landlord to make sure this is in place. 

Unfortunately, the majority of buildings insurance policies won’t cover you for things such as general wear and tear. So keeping those carpets in tip-top shape is down to you.

Contents Insurance

Contents insurance covers anything that is not physically attached to the building. For example stock and equipment, or if your premises is a home then valuables and goods such as furniture and electrical items. This insurance isn’t mandatory, but highly recommended to make sure your belongings are safe.

Similar to buildings insurance, this doesn’t cover wear and tear and the majority of policies come with value limits on your contents.

Fixtures and Fittings Insurance

Pretty much self-explanatory this one. This is to cover any fixtures or fittings that aren’t deemed as stock or goods, but don’t belong to the building itself.

Loss of Rent Insurance

This will help compensate for any loss of rent or income due to the property being inhabitable and your tenants having to be moved out.

Remember, insurance and covers differ between different policies and providers, so it is essential to always check each policy. We’re always here to help anyway, feel free to email us on admin@bluedoorpropertyguardians.co.uk or give us a call on 02078594213 if you have any questions or need a bit more help in the insurance department. 
You can also take a look at our Property Owners page to learn more about our guardianship offering.

Shelter's Christmas Appeal

Blue Door often has unusual, quirky properties, with super large unusual spaces that lend themselves to artists and makers. Because we support creatives we’re often approached by production companies who want to use our interior spaces for music videos, fashion shoots and even scenes for TV and film.

Recently we had the honour of collaborating with Academy Films to offer support for filming the Christmas appeal for Shelter, the Housing Charity. Here at Blue Door we stand by everything Shelter believes in and works towards, which is why we were extremely proud to have the opportunity to collaborate and offer the project location.

A Home is a Fundamental Right

Shelter is a fantastic charity helping people in housing by providing advice, assistance and tirelessly campaigning for better investment, laws and policies in the housing sector. Since 1966, Shelter has campaigned for safe and affordable homes for all.

Their 2022 Christmas appeal titled ‘Brave Face’ shines an honest and hard-hitting light on the reality of struggles that many families will be facing over the next few months. ‘Brave Face’ tells viewers the story of a typical day for a young boy at school who shows resilience by smiling through a series of events including failing a written test, being last in the school canteen queue and missing out on pudding, and letting a goal in during a kickabout. As his (bad) day ends, the young boy goes home to be with his Mum, where the viewers then see and realise that they’ll both be spending Christmas in a noisy, damp bedsit. The final poignant message of the appeal reads ‘No child should have to put on a brave face…but without a home, over 199,500 children do’.

Defend the Right to a Safe Home

The housing crisis affects people throughout the year, but this Christmas the cost of living crisis is making housing problems worse for 7 in10 callers to Shelter’s emergency helpline. Seventeen and a half million people are trapped by the housing emergency, and (1 in 5 renters say their home is damaging their physical or mental health.

We fully pledge our support to Shelter (we have chosen Shelter as one of our Christmas Charity donations this year) and would like to encourage you to do the same. You can donate to the charity here, or you can show your support by sharing their campaigns and spreading the appeal to ensure everyone has access to a safe home.

Shelter runs various events for people to get involved in such as book clubs and walks. Guess what? You can also organise your own event to help raise money, awareness and support Shelter.

Home is Everything

Our team at Blue Door are here to support you if you need any advice or assistance when it comes to affordable housing for key workers, working professionals and post graduates. We understand the importance and the necessity of having a safe and secure home and offer guardian opportunities if you meet our criteria. Please contact admin@bluedoorproperty guardians or phone us on 0207 859 4213.

Shelter - Brave Face

Directors - Si & Ad @si_ad_films

Agency - Don’t Panic @dontpanicldn

Property Guardian Testimonial - Sebastian Tipau-Tatarusanu

For a few years, I had been struggling to find a place of my own that I could afford and wouldn’t affect my budget. When I was looking online, I came across an advert to become a Property Guardian for Blue Door Property Guardians, which would allow me to live in a studio or a one bedroom flat.

After I registered to be a Property Guardian, my dreams came true. For the past year, I’ve been securing a one bedroom flat in Rickmansworth through Blue Door Property Guardians.

Due to a lower fee than the average rental asking prices, I was able to save more money and spend it on growing my skills, so I could better my career as a Plant Operator.

Along the way, I have met some very interesting people from a variety of cultures and made many friends.

I would recommend becoming a Property Guardian for Blue Door Property Guardians to professional individuals, who would like to climb a step in improving their life.

Sebastian Tipau-Tatarusanu

How to De-Stress at Home

Although many people don’t like to speak about it, stress is extremely common in multiple people’s everyday lives. Some may have a high stress tolerance whereas others may have a lower stress tolerance. The only difference is, some people may know how to relieve their stress whilst others struggle.

There are multiple factors that contribute to stress:

• Feeling under pressure or overwhelmed

• Constant worry

• Changes to your personal life or working life

• Having no control over a particular situation

• Taking on too much responsibility without leaving time for yourself

• Family and personal relationship issues

• Grief

…and of course, there are many more factors too.

Is stress normal?

Stress is completely normal and you’ll find that if you’re struggling with it, then you’re not alone.

In the body, we have adrenal glands. Adrenal glands create a hormone called cortisol, which is released when the body enters a ‘fight or flight’ mode - stress. When you’re experiencing a stressful event, the cortisol in the body increases to help battle paramount challenges.

Although stress is commonly experienced by everyone, it doesn’t mean that it’s healthy. Untreated stress can lead to an array of issues both mentally and physically, that will require more treatment.

What are the side-effects of stress?

There are different side effects of stress on the body, yet not a lot of people realise it.

• Headaches

• High blood pressure

• Heart problems

• Breathing problems

• Diabetes

• Digestive issues

• Muscle aches

• Depression

• Anxiety

• Sleep deprivation

These are only a few of the side-effects of stress, and there are a lot more.

How can you de-stress at home?

Helping to reduce your stress at home is completely possible, and there are many ways you can achieve this.

Mindfulness

Practising mindfulness helps you to gather awareness of your thoughts and feelings. Pick yourself a daily activity, and focus on being present for a few moments. The activity could be finding what you’re grateful for, focusing on breathing techniques or taking part in yoga.

Call someone you can rely on

Having a conversation with someone you can rely on, can help to decrease your stress levels. Your ‘support person’ can listen to your problems, reassure you and help you to unwind. Remember, a problem shared is a problem halved after all!

Exercise

When you exercise, you release endorphins that in a nutshell are feel-good chemicals. Exercising helps you to blow off steam, refocus your mind on what’s important, reground yourself back into reality and settle whatever thoughts may be intruding your mind. Also, fresh air is a wonderful thing!

Release your creativity

Being creative often requires a lot of focus, so this is a great way to divert your mind onto something more positive.

Do something you enjoy such as baking, cooking, painting and upcycling to give your mind a break. Let your mind float free!

Practice self-care

Self-care is super important because you’re looking after yourself! 

Self-care can be in the form of anything - a bubble bath, cooking your favourite meal, watching your favourite film or reading an indulgent book. We spend the majority of our time doing things for others such as working, caring or looking after a family if we have one, and rarely take that time out to have a breather for ourselves.

Be in the moment

This one may be easier said than done, but when you practise it it’s easier to maintain than you think.

Even though stress can happen when we’re building up emotions from a specific moment, a lot of it can fall on us looking in the past or towards the future. Being in the moment allows us to focus on what truly matters at that time, without being blinded by future possible stresses, or ones that have been and gone.

Here are just a few ways to help you reduce your stress levels and keep them at bay. Although there are ways to help reduce our stress, if it becomes unmanageable then please seek medical advice from your doctor.