FMJ Facilities Management magazine providing industry-specific intelligence to FM and property professionals
WPS, part of Wates Group, has won a 10-year contract, valued at £1.1 billion, with Birmingham City Council to deliver housing maintenance plus heating and compliance services to more than 30,000 homes.
WPS was awarded the northern and southern lots, and from July will carry out day-to-day repairs, improvement work, void property management – preparing empty homes for new tenants – plus planned maintenance programmes such as kitchen and bathroom upgrades.
The work will also see heating and compliance services to ensure homes are kept safe and warm, delivered by Liberty – WPS’ specialist gas heating and renewable energy installation and servicing business.
WPS has already delivered maintenance for Birmingham homes between 2016 and 2022 and recently renovated the Inkerman House residential high-rise block.
Gary Wilkinson, Regional Managing Director for WPS said: “WPS maintains one in seven social homes nationally and with a strong presence in the Midlands, we’re looking forward to supporting communities in the area, as well as improving homes. This will include working with local organisations and supporting the City’s economy through our commitment to create skills and employment opportunities and create £120 million in total economic and social value over the course of the contract.”
Cllr Nicky Brennan Cabinet Member for Housing and Homelessness said: “Birmingham City Council is investing more than £200 million a year to bring more council properties up to a better standard. We look forward to working with WPS to provide a repairs and maintenance service that will enable us to keep the pace of that investment, while providing tenants with a quality of service that they rightly expect and deserve.”
Webinar FMJ and askporter: How to overcome the comms gap in FM with AI and tech tools
According to the 2026 UK Facilities Management Market Research Report by askporter, facilities management professionals want clear, verifiable evidence of work being delivered, with teams that can communicate progress in real time. This requires technology that is affordable, intuitive, and quick to adopt.
Yet the report found that:
Over three quarters of FM professionals (76 per cent) experience operational inefficiencies caused by siloed software which results in a lack of real-time visibility.
Communications challenges lead to maintenance issues, with 73 per cent of teams being forced into reactive problem-solving on a weekly basis.
A worrying level of compliance gaps, with 44 per cent of admitting that half or less of their compliance tasks are tracked and automated within their systems.
Closing this gap requires the establishment of transparent and consistent communications using affordable software that gives FM teams the ability to track, evidence and improve their services.
This webinar provides a valuable overview of the main findings of the report by askporter followed by a panel discussion by FM thought leaders on practical, strategic solutions that can help close this communications gap.
To register for the webinar taking place 29 January 2026 at 11:00am click here.
