More than 10,800 Basildon Council tenants will receive a more efficient and improved service after the Council signed a long-term contract with Morgan Sindall Property Services to maintain and repair the Council’s housing stock and corporate buildings.
The £300m-plus contract integrates all the Council’s major repair and maintenance services aiming to offer a more efficient, customer-focused service for residents and a single point of contact for the Council. The new contract is expected to deliver significant long-term savings for the authority with estimated savings of around £2m per annum. The contract starts on 1 July 2016 and will continue for up to 15 years.
Following a tender process, Morgan Sindall will now be carrying out repairs, maintenance and planned improvement works to the Council’s housing stock as well as undertaking gas servicing, repairs and boiler renewals to 10,000 domestic gas heating systems. Repairs and maintenance works to the Council’s non-residential properties, including the Towngate Theatre, Basildon Centre and local community halls will also be carried out by Morgan Sindall under this contract.
The Council has placed a high emphasis on enabling employment opportunities for local people whilst ensuring the partnership with Morgan Sindall will continue to support the community by providing sustainable legacy projects.
One such project is the creation of a social enterprise, which will help deliver external redecorations and estate improvement works. The social enterprise will work in conjunction with local college PROCAT and Jobcentre Plus to target long-term unemployed residents and help recruit the right trainees, who will be trained and mentored by Morgan Sindall engineers and staff. The social enterprise will be a not-for-profit organisation and any surplus will be re-invested back into the business or the local community.
The contract will also provide up to 30 apprenticeship opportunities at any one time and work to improve employability by offering CV writing courses and interview training through local workshops.
Chief executive of Basildon Council, Bala Mahendran, Commented: “This great partnership with Morgan Sindall highlights our commitment to our residents and allows us to provide a more efficient and streamlined maintenance service.
“We’re pleased that this new contract will provide better servicing and renewals works for tenants across the borough. In addition, the introduction of new services means that people will have a better choice and improved access to what they need to maintain their homes.”
