Jewson Partnership Solutions (JPS) has launched a new one-stop-shop building and maintenance hub for housing providers in Newcastle City Centre, to help navigate the demands and challenges of supplying safe and quality social housing to local residents.
The first of its kind from JPS, the AVAIL Housing Hub will bring together all the benefits of Jewson Partnership Solutions — including material supply, stock management technology, waste disposal and expert training — to tackle the many challenges of modern social housing, including changing legislation, health and safety, rising costs, and decarbonisation regulations.
Providers of social housing in the Newcastle area will have access to the hub’s large external yard and warehouse, storing a wealth of products for construction, maintenance and repairs. JPS will apply its automated replenishment technology to ensure levels of stock — which are selected specifically to support social landlords with their key challenges — are always maintained, and materials can also be made available for customers out of hours.
A fleet of vehicles are available for delivery of products and materials to different sites and properties, either direct to operative or to AVAIL’s Smart Collection points located at convenient spots around the city. There is an on-site ‘drop and go’ waste offer, allowing users to save valuable time in the usual waste separation process. Finally, the hub provides its own training academy, available to any AVAIL Housing Hub customer and their tenants, offering training on new product launches and construction processes. Courses are also available for 16-24 year olds looking to enter the job market, delivered in conjunction with charity YouthBuild.
The hub will be located next to the Byker Estate in the centre of the city, which is one of the most deprived areas in England, according to Government data. Newcastle has a high percentage of social housing in its city centre region compared to others in the UK, at around 50% of its 75,000 dwellings. JPS has promised to reinvest a percentage of the profit made at the hub into the local community, working with the Greggs Foundation to provide schools in the area with free breakfasts.
JPS officially opened the doors to the hub last week at an event attended by a wealth of building materials suppliers, contractors and local housing associations. JPS will launch additional hubs later in the year in other major cities, with one set to officially open in Leeds in September.
Scott Cooper, Managing Director of JPS, said: “Housing associations are feeling more pressure than ever as they look to provide better social housing for less. From an all-time-high level of repairs and compliance requirements, to decarbonisation targets and a need to improve indoor air quality, social landlords are also doing what they can to raise the standards of their properties while the cost of materials continues to rise and labour becomes more scarce.
“The AVAIL Housing Hub is designed to make our customer’s lives easier in the face of these challenges. Operational efficiency is key to help landlords to identify ways of working that will save money, while guidance is also needed to help them choose the right products to deliver the homes of the future. We bring all of that under one roof, acting as a supply partner that truly understands their needs and that can help them deliver on their objectives.
“Our large facility can stock ample materials that can be segregated by customer, minimising the financial risk for landlords who’d normally need to manage their own stock levels on site. This, combined with an option to manage waste efficiently, comprehensive product delivery options and training and workshops delivered by our experts, will help Newcastle’s housing providers to improve the living standards of their tenants, whilst constructing and maintaining better homes and building a stronger future for the city’s communities.”
