A new four-year programme, which will see small and medium-sized housebuilders working for Birmingham City Council’s housebuilding arm — Birmingham Municipal Housing Trust (BMHT) — has been launched.
Pictured above from left to right are Steve Rose — Jessup Brothers, John Perrett — Oakleaf Construction Services, Cllr Peter Griffiths, Antony Rees — Harper Group and Tony Cotter — E. Manton.
Birmingham City Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing and Homes, Cllr Peter Griffiths, said: “The development of new affordable social housing for the city is one of the council’s key priorities. This new programme will help us to achieve that whilst at the same time stimulating and supporting the construction industry.
“To make the most of the land sites available we needed to address the issue of small sites. As large building companies have greater overheads and higher profit margins set by their executive boards, this scheme allows us to work with the smaller companies that are best placed to build on smaller plots of land.”
A tender strategy and process for the establishment of a regional Dynamic Purchasing System was approved by the council’s cabinet in June last year. The new system will see homes built on designated small sites of up to 15 houses for a four-year period. Small and medium-sized house builders located in and around Birmingham will also be available to other local authorities in the West Midlands Combined authority area and adjacent authorities wishing to use it.
The first four companies appointed are — E. Manton, Harper Group, Jessup Brothers and Oakleaf Construction Services. The ‘dynamic’ element of the purchasing system means that the council can be more flexible in the appointment of contractors and more companies will be able to come on board via Find It in Birmingham as the scheme is rolled out.
