Representing one of the most significant social housing contract awards this year, Teign Housing announces the appointment of property services specialist Ian Williams to deliver a 10+5 year £84 million programme of planned, response, void, disabled adaptations, electrical and heating works. Describing the move as a ‘step-change’ in the way RSLs deliver such services, Teign has established a new Wholly Owned Subsidiary (WOS) Templer HomeBuild which will see its in-house staff, supported by Ian Williams, create a more accessible, better-managed and streamlined service for tenants.
Tony Sharland, Teign’s Head of Asset Management and Development comments: “The WOS model is a first for both Teign and Ian Williams and before we embarked on the journey, our first step was to talk to our customers. We wanted tenants and end users to help us define our priorities and crystallise what we’re trying to achieve. During consultation with customers and staff and with input from echelon consultancy, we identified the core attributes they wanted to see as part of the new service. These were included within requirements set out in the tender documentation which took into account all aspects of the service including delivery proposals, ICT solutions, innovation and social value. Setting standards for improved efficiency to meet our expectations, the evaluations were completed using a quality and cost weighting.
“Two things became clear. The first was that we needed to integrate the majority of our repair, maintenance and improvement works within one contract. The second was that with such a significant contract to be awarded, we had to be absolutely confident in our choice of contractor. Ian Williams demonstrated that they are the right partner for the WOS, thanks to the quality of their tender submission. They achieved the highest evaluation score for both cost and quality of all those shortlisted. Significantly Ian Williams reflected our higher weighting on quality and ability to deliver, rather than just lower price. In the final evaluations, Ian Williams were not only first on quality, but also first on price, providing great value for money.
“Another critical area that guided our decision was Social Value. As a major contributor to our local community, we have an important role to play in addition to providing good quality homes and services. Ian Williams will work with us, and our existing partners, to engage with our residents and contribute towards the community by looking at employment opportunities, work experience and placements, apprenticeships and engaging the local supply chain.
“Our aim is that the holistic delivery of our repairs and maintenance services via a WOS with Ian Williams at the helm will increase the effectiveness of delivery and make the most of many benefits of joint working including efficiency savings, intelligent programming and improved customer satisfaction. It will incorporate a fully dedicated repair call handling service and utilise Ian Williams’ asset management technology IWSYS to efficiently deliver our services. Our aim is to promote and establish a more cohesive and collaborative culture across the services leading to improved accountability, ownership and quality. Together with Ian Williams I am confident we will achieve this and maybe other social housing landlords will benefit from what we believe is a delivery model for the 21st century.”
Mike Turner, Development Director at Ian Williams comments: “Ian Williams has long recognised the benefits of strategic, long term partnerships and fully endorses the business philosophy and solid relationships that this approach engenders. The innovation within this new partnership with Teign will help us jointly implement significant customer service improvements and satisfaction as well as cost savings. I believe it is a win-win model with both parties focused on the effective delivery of services by recognising and working towards shared goals and objectives. The strength of a relationship is with the team, creating a good team and a group who are happy work well together and deliver a great service. We look forward to working with Teign to realise their ambitious objectives over the next decade.”
