Regenda Housing Group is preparing to launch a new call centre from its Middlebrook head office.

The social housing landlord, which provides 13,000 homes for residents across the North-west, plans to provide a new phone helpline, Regenda First, from its Bolton base.

In preparation, Regenda has recruited 16 new customer service advisers, who this week embarked on an intensive nine-week training course.

The new recruits will join six staff, currently working at Regenda House, to provide a "One Call For All" residents' helpline.

Once the service - which has been a year in the planning - is up and running, Regenda residents will only need to make one call to get all their housing needs dealt with, from housing management queries to maintenance requests.

It is hoped the new customer service advisers (CSAs) will deal with inquiries to avoid residents being passed around different departments.

Bernard Gallagher, chief executive of the Regenda Group, said "We are delighted to welcome our new recruits to Regenda House and look forward to more of the Regenda staff joining them in our new head office in a few weeks."

Regenda plans to open up further new posts for customer service advisers over the coming months as part of a wider investment in the local area.

The company hopes to have a team of 33 CSAs trained-up in time for the launch of its Regenda First service next month.

Regenda's longer-term plan is to increase its total workforce at its Middlebrook head office to 175 by the end of the year.