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VINCI Facilities has won a three-year contract, valued at £9 million, with Southern Housing to retrofit homes across London, Kent and Sussex.
Taking a fabric first, whole house approach, these works will improve the housing association’s homes to minimum EPC C rating. The work is jointly funded by Southern Housing, and the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund and it is one of the first awards released through the Fusion 21 De-carbonisation Framework.
Southern Housing successfully secured £10.3 million under the Government Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Wave 2.1. The grant will be used to improve the energy efficiency of 1,491 homes over the next two years – having a positive impact on the quality, affordability and comfort of its homes. As well as keeping future energy bills low for its residents, the investment will also reduce the likelihood of damp and mould and improve satisfaction.
VINCI Facilities Building Solutions is an advocate of the whole house concept – ensuring an optimised retrofit approach that complies with PAS 2030/35. The Southern Housing contract is also an opportunity to obtain the benefit of a two-stage procurement process. VINCI Facilities Building Solutions is collaborating in the development of the designs in partnership with ECD Architects and pursue early supply chain involvement in accordance with the principles within the ‘Construction Playbook’ and ‘Constructing the Gold Standard’ reports.
Tony Raikes, Managing Director of VINCI Facilities said: “Working with Southern Housing is a great chance to demonstrate why we came first in the Fusion 21 framework and put into practice our policies around retrofit. It is all about improving the quality of life for residents and one of our first steps will be to create a bespoke resident engagement process using TPAS standards.”
VINCI Facilities Building Solutions will be embedding social value throughout its work with Southern Housing and working closely with TrAC to create opportunities for young people on the projects.
Karin Stockerl, Corporate Director of Assets & Sustainability at Southern Housing commented: “As one of the largest housing associations in the UK, we’ve a responsibility to be proactive on sustainability.
“We’re pleased to be partnering with VINCI Facilities Building Solutions to help us deliver our retrofit plans over the next three years. As well as working towards reducing our carbon footprint, this vital work will be hugely beneficial to our residents.”
Kara Tomes-Meek, Head of Sustainability at Southern Housing added: “In addition, it’s fantastic to see VINCI Facilities supporting our social purpose, offering to train young people during the project. This will be incredibly valuable to so many people and will contribute towards closing the green-skills gap.”
Southern Housing is one of the largest housing providers in the UK and a member of the G15 group of London’s largest housing associations.
With the current economic crisis resulting in higher prices and more of a squeeze on resources, FMs need to ensure that they have robust building and maintenance services in place to control costs and reduce the need for emergency repairs. When it comes to drainage and plumbing there are also the challenges of dealing with extreme weather, from droughts to flooding, the need to meet stringent regulations and to avoid causing environmental damage.
UK drainage specialist, Metro Rod, has launched a survey which explores the main areas of interest for FMs in maintaining drainage and plumbing, including how they currently assess their supply chains to ensure they’re working with partners that meet the highest possible standards and provide value for money.
The results will be published online so that you can see how you compare to others within the sector.
The survey should take just 5-10 minutes of your time, and as a thank you, you will be entered into a prize draw, where one lucky winner will be picked at random to receive a £100 Amazon voucher.
To take part click here.
