Morrison wins new contract in the heart of England

Leading contractor Morrison Facilities Services has won a multi-million pound contract repairing houses in Birmingham for Midland's housing association Midland Heart.

Morrison has been contracted to repair 8,000 properties in Birmingham managed by Midland Heart in a deal worth £4.7 million annually over ten years. Under the terms of the deal Morrison will undertake routine property maintenance of Midland Heart's stock in the Birmingham area. In addition, it will carry out work on void properties, refurbishing vacant properties in readiness for them to be re-let.

As part of the contract Morrison has integrated contractors from the housing association's previous providers into its own business to form 75 per cent of its Midland Heart contract team.

Morrison Facilities Services began its partnership by organising an induction event at Edgbaston cricket ground. Morrison developed an inclusive induction process to identify skill levels and training requirements in order to maintain the highest levels of customer service during the transfer process.

The induction event included new suppliers, Morrison staff, Midland Heart staff and representatives of residents' groups. The induction will be used in developing future partnership processes.

Luke Smith, senior partnership manager with Morrison Facilities Services, said: "We carried out a four-day induction at Edgbaston Cricket Ground with the theme of the four P's - 'Partnership', 'People', 'Performance' and 'Process.' Each day focused on one of these elements which we believe are the main factors in providing high levels of service delivery."

For the customer service element Morrison Facilities Services employed professional actors to help demonstrate good service, involving the staff in role play to create a short scenario presented at the end of the 'Performance' day.

"We also supported Midland Heart prior to going live by taking additional work from their incumbent providers. This meant that the transition from previous contractors to Morrison Facilities Services was as smooth as possible.

"All the systems and processes are now live and initial customer feedback has been good. The contract is based on a partnering process and we are looking forward to developing that partnership with Midland Heart over the next ten years," said Luke Smith.

Maintenance contractors now use handheld computerised organisers to communicate with the partnership's call centre. Morrison has also worked closely with Midland Heart and its residents to develop the call centre.

Stuart Edwards, head of maintenance at Midland Heart, said: "We are delighted to be working with Morrison Facilities Services on maintenance projects.

"We are looking forward to developing our partnership with them. Morrison has made the transition from our previous contractors as smooth as possible."