Memorandum by Connaught plc
I. BACKGROUND
ON CONNAUGHT
PLC
— Connaught has been operating in the
social housing market for 25 years
— We provide a full range of housing
maintenance and estate management services to social landlords
and the communities in which we work
— We currently operate over 100 partnerships
with Local Authorities, ALMOs and Housing Associations
2. PARTNERSHIP
CONTRACT TYPES
& EXAMPLE CLIENTS
— Decent homes—Hammersmith &
Fulham BC, Hull CC, Hackney Homes, Sheffield Homes, Sandwell Homes,
Stafford & Rural Homes, One Vision
Housing (Sefton), Golden Gates Housing (Warrington)
— Planned maintenance—Ashfield
Homes, West Wilts Housing Society
— Reactive maintenance—Derwent
Living, Midsummer HA, East Devon DC
— Void refurbishment—various
— Gas servicing—Cheltenham Homes,
Bristol CC, Teign Homes
— Estate cleaning—Lambeth BC,
Wandsworth BC, Brent BC, Solihull MBC
— Street cleaning—Wandsworth
BC, Mendip DC, North Somerset DC
— Grounds maintenance—Portsmouth
BC, Hillingdon BC
— Recycling programmes—Lambeth
BC, Kingston BC
— Asset management—Paradigm Housing
Group, Gosport BC, South Somerset Homes
3. KEY THEMES
FOR BUILDING
SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS
IN SOCIAL
HOUSING
3.1 Partnership
The introduction of "partnering""
and best value procurement in social housing has been a major
factor in getting clients and contractors working together more
effectively, as a team, as opposed to a more traditional adversarial
contractual relationship.
It is our belief that a strong partnership is
based on trust, co-operation and communication between all parties.
Successful partnerships bring together all the
stakeholders in a project, including the social landlord, residents,
contractor and supply chain partners.
The key to a successful partnership is people.
3.2 Efficiency
There are huge opportunities to achieve efficiency
benefits in the delivery of a social housing maintenance programme.
Efficiency gains can be delivered specifically through : best
practice from other programmes, self-delivery of projects rather
than sub-contract, process re-engineering, technology and the
consolidation of service provision and the supplier base.
The Gershon efficiency agenda has become a major
priori for all social landlords. The proper maintenance budget
is a major component of the cost base of housing associations
and using departments in local authorities.
We believe there are great opportunities to
deliver the Gershon targets in social housing maintenance and
repair, particularly through supplier consolidation and a more
comprehensive multi-service partnering approach.
3.3 Community
SustainabIe communities is high on the agenda
of all social landlords.
We have developed the Connaught Community Initiative,
which is driven by a desire to build a lasting legacy in every
community in which we work.
We believe any community initiative should address
4 key areas:
1. Economy—developing local skills
and jobs, supporting local businesses
2. Social—supporting local community
initiatives, respecting people & cultures
3. Environment—improving the whole
social housing environment, not just homes
4. Empowerment—working with residents
and the wider community to deliver these sustainable community
benefits
There as been some discussion about developing
Decent Homes into a broader Decent Communities programme. We would
welcome such a development, with the emphasis on the four areas
mentioned above. Specifically, a proportion of the decent homes
expenditure could be allocated to improving the whole social housing
environment in and around council estates
I would be very happy to discus these thoughts
in more detail during the
forthcoming oral committee session.
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