Social Housing and Decent Homes Projects

Day-to-Day repairs and maintenance

Maintenance & Contracts holds the contract to maintain Ipswich Borough Council's full housing stock of 8,300 properties. Under this contract, we carry out all types of repair and property maintenance. In the past we have also carried out similar contracts for Colchester Borough Council and Babergh District Council, looking after their entire housing portfolio.

Void property refurbishments

We have many years experience in the efficient refurbishment of vacant properties. A Council house becomes 'void' when a tenant finishes their tenancy. We currently refurbish 550 properties a year for new tenants, on a 5, 10 or 15-day priority. This helps the Council re-let its domestic housing stock as quickly as possible.

Disabled adaptations

Our 'DA' team converts properties for people with disabilities so they can continue to live independently.

Selected properties can have various adaptations carried out which will be specific to the customer's requirements. During such works the customer will be offered alternative accomodation until such works are completed and handed over.

Electrical rewires

We are accredited by the Electrical Contractors Association (ECA) and carry out major re-wire programmes of domestic housing stock, schools and public buildings. Work carried out is certified to meet the current electrical regulations.

While our work within the housing sector helps the council provide decent homes for all tenants. We currently rewire approximately 550 properties per year.

We can test, inspect and certify in-house and are "Part P" qualified.

Planned Maintenance Programme

The Planned Maintenance Programme involves the maintenance and refurbishment of all Ipswich Borough Council's pre and post-war residential housing stock.

The contract is being procured using the ACA Project Partnering Contract (PPC 2000).

The partnership aims to deliver a comprehensive, customer focused best-value contract, in line with the Council's commitment to effectively maintain and improve the housing stock and local environment. This forms part of the overall Maintenance and Energy Strategy.

This programme enables the Council to meet the requirements of Government-led decent homes standards, as well as contributing to their own Ipswich Standard.

Many of these properties will have benefitted from significant refurbishment and upgrading such as:

• New roofing and chimneys;
• Fascias;
• Soffits and rainwater goods;
• New windows;
• New doors;
• External wall insulation;
• Other external works.

In addition, every single property is externally repaired and redecorated. Internal communal areas are also redecorated.

We manage the project using a combination of directly employed labour and key supply chain partners.

The contract provides significant benefits to the Council in terms of value for money, quality and helping to meet decent homes and Ipswich Standards.

In addition we are able to offer long-term guarantees for several key work elements. An example of this is the partnership arrangement with Marley Roofing. The Marley Assured Roofing Scheme (MARS) offers a lifetime guarantee for all new roofing installations.

Kitchen and Bathrooms

We have extensive experience in kitchen and bathroom installations including large decent homes and capital improvement schemes across the entire housing sector.

Central Heating Installations

We have extensive experience installing and maintaining central heating systems in both domestic and commercial property.