Four regional housebuilders have been awarded contracts for 250 affordable homes in a groundbreaking deal to raise standards and generate savings for one of the south’s largest social housing programmes.

The Sovereign Development Consortium – an alliance of 12 landlords with a £52m Housing Corporation grant – signed up four construction firms to work on small brownfield sites in a pioneering package that will lead to faster completions, sharing the latest building techniques, and better quality control.

Following a tendering process four companies – ROK, Carter, Pearce and Leadlitter – were recently appointed to the Framework Agreement. Between them, the companies offer a wealth of experience, ranging from inner-city regeneration to rural exception sites. Consortium members are now working with these firms to standardise components and streamline procedures.

Framework Agreements are a new concept within the sector, being adopted by RSLs who have a number of projects to carry out over a period of time. They reduce the

time and expense of carrying out separate tenders, especially in the context of new EU Procurement rules.

Lindy Morgan, Head of the Sovereign Development Consortium, commented: “We’ve already delivered 114% of what the Corporation requested, and this arrangement will boost our completions, while still allowing us control over materials and timescales, which are difficult to achieve on sites allocating through planning gain.

“We’ve had lots of interest from other developing landlords, and are now developing the idea further up the supply chain.”

Published 24 August 2006
[Back to news] [Back to top]