Why A2 Dominion is using 16 repairs contractors

A2 Dominion has recently selected 16 contractors for repairs frameworks worth £90m, to deliver repairs programmes for our homes across London and the South East over the next four years.

Our approach has been to select multiple contractors to join our frameworks as we believe this will help us to achieve the best results. Our repairs programmes are wide ranging, covering smaller-scale work such as the replacement of kitchens, bathrooms, doors and windows as well as external repairs.

There are also larger refurbishment and investment projects that will emerge as a result of the active asset appraisal methods that we are implementing. Our work covers a geographically diverse area, stretching across London and Staines and out to Oxford and Winchester.

“We chose to select 16 contractors to join our frameworks to allow us to work with a mixture of different contractors of different sizes.”

We chose to select 16 contractors to join our frameworks to allow us to work with a mixture of different contractors of different sizes. We realise that this could be viewed as a departure from the approach of many housing associations, where using either a single or small number of contractors has been favoured.

We feel this approach is right for us and will deliver three main advantages, which are:

Value for money

Using 16 contractors gives us a mixed economy. This allows us to match the best-placed contractors to deliver the repair works for the best price. Being limited to a small number of large national contractors can lead to work being delivered outside of the contractors’ core areas of business, resulting in inferior delivery or value for money.

Risk spreading

Procurement is time-consuming and an expensive business for everyone involved. While we don’t expect poor performance or failure from the contractors, should either occur, our frameworks allow us to respond quickly and efficiently, minimising the impact to our customers and to our repairs programmes.

Better relationships

We are excited about building new and highly collaborative relationships with the framework contractors. An example of this is where all contractors on our frameworks have signed up to using a new joint project management tool.

“We realise that this could be viewed as a departure from the approach of many housing associations.”

This tool, which is called Lifespan Projects, has been developed by Property Tectonics with input from A2 Dominion. It is a collaborative management tool, enabling the new framework to be managed effectively. The tool monitors progress on site, streamlines customer communication and deals with contract administration such as variations, contract instructions, cost management and more.

Being integrated with A2 Dominion’s systems means we can ensure project information is recorded against our asset database, intuitively providing information during and after the project is completed.

The project management tool enables all framework contractors to be engaged with A2 Dominion in a consistent way. We expect to use this as a means of delivering collaboration, not just between A2 Dominion and contractors but also between all of the contractors on the framework.

We expect that the truly collaborative nature of this tool will foster stronger and more transparent relationships with our contractors. We are very excited to begin the delivery of repairs and improvements to customers’ homes in the coming weeks.

Gary Bellenger, assistant director of property services, A2 Dominion