Pre-Christmas facelift for homes in Richmondshire

Published by Rachael Hunter for Kier Services in Housing and also in Communities, Health

Homes of council residents across Richmondshire have had a pre-Christmas makeover thanks to work carried out by Kier. Tenants were delighted with their newly fitted kitchens and bathrooms and the electrical rewiring work carried out in more than 48 properties in Brompton-on-Swale and Richmond, with another 17 properties set to receive improvements in the New Year.

In a letter to Kier, a resident warden for properties where improvements were carried out said: “Kier and its workforce proved to be very professional and proficient, at all time courteous and obliging. We wish to express our delight at the outcome and to thank both the council and Kier for making this happen.”

Richmondshire District Council and Kier have been working in partnership to improve homes in the borough since signing a new four-year home improvements contract in September 2011. The contract, worth £6.3m over the four-year period, will provide planned refurbishment works to council owned homes across the district.

Kier’s regional director for maintenance, Mike Furze, said: “With Christmas just around the corner we were keen to complete planned refurbishments as quickly as possible in order to reduce disruption to residents over the holiday period. At Kier, we work with communities across the country to improve the living conditions of thousands of families in council accommodation; we were delighted to extend this work to the people of Richmondshire and are very pleased to have been able to complete the work on schedule, on budget and in time for Christmas.”

Richmondshire District Council housing councillor, Peter Wood, said: “This work is part of the council’s ongoing commitment to improving living conditions for our tenants.”

Kier will continue to deliver improvement work in the New Year with plans already in place to fit new windows to properties across Richmondshire including in Scorton, Finghall, Moulton, Hawes, Spennythorne, Catterick and Hipswell. Re-roofing work will also be carried out at the Ravensworth bungalows by the end of 2011.

For more information visit: www.kier.co.uk/maintenance