Birmingham 'to save £30 million' as contracts awarded for council housing

Birmingham City Council today announced it is set to save £30 million after awarding maintenance contracts for council housing to organisations that have demonstrated 'exceptional quality and value for money'.

From April 2010, Inspace Partnerships will be responsible for carrying out repairs and maintenance to all council homes in south Birmingham. Gas contracts to service and repair council homes across the city have been awarded to Morrison Facilities Services Ltd (south), Mears Group (central) and P H Jones Ltd (north). All contracts will run until October 2015.

Councillor John Lines, Cabinet Member for Housing, said: “This is an incredible saving for our city and it follows a rigorous procurement process that involved tenant and leaseholder representatives.

“We are committed to providing an efficient service for our tenants whilst ensuring we get the best value for our money. I promise to deliver a seamless transition from our old to new contractors so our tenants will remain unaffected by the changes.

“Inspace Partnerships have been selected to provide a repairs and maintenance service to some 40,000 council homes in south Birmingham and as they already provide a similar service to our tenants and leaseholders in the north of the city I’m confident of an excellent service.

“We have also consolidated our gas contracts into the same geographical areas of the city which form the boundaries for our repairs and maintenance contractors.
"This not only provides for a more efficient service but provides better value for money. It is estimated that all these new contracts will save the city approximately £30m over the life of the contracts."

Eddie Howard, tenant representative, said: “We were involved in all aspects of the tender process from initial invitations to final evaluation of tenders. We feel that we have secured the best partners to continue to provide a first class service to both tenants and leaseholders."

Peter Langan, leaseholder representative, added: “This is great news for Birmingham and I’m glad to have played a part in selecting the new contracts and thus saving millions of pounds.”

The scope of the repairs and maintenance contract will cover work such as emergency repairs, right to repair jobs, responsive repairs and empty property maintenance. The gas contracts will include gas servicing, gas repairs and installations.  

Inspace Partnerships, who are part of the Wilmott Dixon Group, will provide a repairs and maintenance service in Edgbaston, Hall Green, Northfield and Selly Oak in addition to the areas they maintain in the north of the city.

Morrison Facilities Services Ltd will provide the gas service to the areas of Edgbaston, Hall Green, Northfield and Selly Oak.  

Mears Group will provide the gas service to the areas of Hodge Hill and Yardley. P H Jones will provide the gas service for the areas of Erdington, Ladywood, Perry Barr and Yardley.

The new contracts were procured in accordance with European regulations.