North East housing associations form innovative partnership
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A trio of North East housing associations are leading the way in delivering savings for their residents, after implementing an innovative approach to jointly procuring maintenance services.
Four Housing, North Star Housing Group and Two Castles Housing Association have joined forces to procure day-to-day and void maintenance repairs worth more than £13million over a four-year partnership.
Believed to be the first of its kind to be set up in the North East, the arrangement to jointly procure maintenance contractors will see repair prices for each association fixed for four years. It is expected to deliver an 18% reduction in overall responsive repair costs, helping each housing association to deliver greater efficiency and value for money for their residents elsewhere within their organisations.
Rob Brittain, property services director at Two Castles Housing Association, said: “As an industry, we are always under pressure to deliver the highest standards of services for our residents for the same or less cost. Achieving value for money is embedded in everything that we do and we work as hard as possible to ensure that every pound spent as an association is invested wisely to maximise return for our residents.”
Managing more than 11,000 properties in rural and urban communities between them, Four Housing, North Star Housing Group and Two Castles will now work with three dedicated contractors in the North East, including PF Burridge & Sons from Newcastle, Sunter Limited in Houghton-le-Spring and the Esh Group with bases in Cramlington and Durham.
The outcome of the joint procurement exercise, managed by asset management consultancy Elliot Johnson, will not only limit price increases for each association going forwards, but will also help them to monitor the performance of the services being provided more effectively.
David Brown, Head of Asset Management at Four Housing said: “We have appreciated working with Two Castles and North Star housing associations during the procurement phase. Together we will be able to find savings while ensuring an even higher quality of service for our customers.
“Ensuring value from contracts is very important to our tenants, especially in the current economic climate. This innovative approach will help to ensure we get the right balance between cost and quality.”
Conan McKinley, assistant director of technical services at North Star Housing Group, said: "Thanks to the hard work of colleagues and the introduction of the new contractors we are delighted to be able to introduce a new, slicker process for dealing with repairs.
“Improving our repairs service has been a major priority for North Star Housing Group. Tenants can expect to benefit from an improved appointments system, regular updates on the progress of their repair and a great service from polite and courteous personnel, who will fully explain the work required to carry out the repair.
“Not only this, but our new contractors will be getting involved with our community investment projects, donating their resources to help us work with local people to set up and support community-led projects. Both Esh Group and Burridge will also be working with apprentices from the local community, helping local people into work."
The contractual arrangement between the three housing associations, reflects a similar partnership undertaken by Two Castles with another housing provider in the North West. The successful joint exercise in Cumbria meant that repair costs were 10% cheaper for Two Castles, than if it were to procure maintenance services independently.
Rob continued: “Maintaining our residents’ homes continues to be an important priority and is one of our biggest expenditures. This innovative partnership shows best practice in how housing associations can work together to deliver wider efficiencies for their organisations, while maintaining the highest of standards for our residents. We look forward to working with Four Housing Group and North Star Housing Group as part of this four-year partnership.”