CHESTER-le-Street landlord Cestria Community Housing is celebrating after winning a handful of accolades.

The association, which owns and manages around 4,300 homes, was ranked 72nd in the prestigious Sunday Times 100 Best Not-For-Profit Organisations to Work For list.

It also achieved Best Companies 1 Star Accreditation, demonstrating that staff feel it is one of the UK’s best workplaces.

Cestria was runner-up in The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies Innovation and Engagement Practice award.

This is the first year Cestria has applied for a place on the list, and with nearly 900 companies from across the UK entering, making it into the top 100 is a major achievement.

Cestria was recently shortlisted in the Achieving Best Value for Money category at the Housing Association National Accountancy Awards, as well as in the Business Transformation of the Year category at the UK Housing Awards.

Chief Executive Paul Fiddaman said: “This is fantastic news for Cestria and demonstrates the hard work our staff have put in over the last few years to make this an organisation people feel proud to be part of.

“Gaining a place on the Top 100 at our first attempt is a major achievement and is the latest piece of good news for us after finding out we are also finalists in the both the UK Housing Awards and Housing Association National Accountancy Awards.

“Cestria has come a long way since we were established six years ago and this success is great recognition of the effort made by our whole team.”