December 17, 2012 2.52 pm This story is over 135 months old

New £25m council housing repairs deal promises local economy boost

Keeping it local: The City of Lincoln Council awarded its £25 million council housing planned maintenance contract to Kier.
Big contract (L-R): Tim Whitworth, Assistant Director at City of Lincoln Council (CoL), Maxine Wigley, Kier Customer & Performance Manager, Simon Bullen, Kier Regional Managing Director, Cllr Ric Metcalfe Leader of CoL and John Bibby, Director of Housing at CoL.

The City of Lincoln Council awarded its £25 million council housing planned maintenance contract to Kier.

The contract is to carry out maintenance to City Council homes and provide employment opportunities for city residents, as 100% of Kier employees working on this scheme live within the city and its surrounding areas.

The partnership will result in an estimated £1.5 million in savings for the council over the coming five years working together, with scope to extend the deal for a further five years to 2023.

As part of their works, Kier will be responsible for installing new kitchens, bathrooms, windows and doors and rewiring at some properties to ensure the 8,000 council houses meet the government’s Decent Homes standard.

The contract also incorporates a number of community based projects ranging from providing tools, seeds and plants for allotments, working with young people to teach about money management and even running a time bank – where Kier staff can donate hours to help community run schemes.

Councillor Ric Metcalfe, Leader of City of Lincoln Council, said: “As part of this contract Lincoln will be one of the first areas in the country to benefit from the new Kier+ scheme, which offers our tenants an improved service thanks to new technology, better business links and access to support around the clock.

“This partnership between Kier and the City Council will have many benefits to the city of Lincoln and its residents, particularly that local money will be used to benefit the local community.”

Kier regional managing director, Simon Bullen, said: “We have successfully been awarded this contract based on the merit of our work in Lincoln over the last seven years and our reputation as a high quality service provider. We have developed a strong working relationship with the Council and we look forward to progressing this into the future.”

One of the schemes set to be introduced by Kier is a new website service where tenants can log problems so maintenance teams are able to deal with them as quickly and efficiently as possible.