Northwards Housing Extends Repairs And Maintenance Contract

Manchester based Northwards Housing has extended its relationship with leading repairs and maintenance provider Morrison for an additional two years and eight months.

The contract, which is delivered for Northwards Housing by Manchester Working Limited, Morrison's joint venture with Manchester City Council, is for the provision of day to day repairs, voids and specialist services to 12,500 properties across North Manchester.

This new contract, which is worth in excess of £20million over its term, has been agreed six months before the contract expiry date, demonstrating the strength of the relationship between the two organisations.

Morrison has been working in partnership with Northwards Housing since September 2006 and played an instrumental role in helping the organisation achieve its three-star with ‘excellent prospects for improvement', Audit Commission rating in February 2009. The award has enabled Northwards to secure the funding to complete its five-year drive to improve every Northwards home. Manchester Working has been a valued partner on this project; consistently delivering high quality repairs and improvements, which regularly result in resident satisfaction scores of over 95% and home improvement scores of 9.7 out of 10.

Des Morris, Managing Director for Manchester Working Ltd, said: "This new contract represents a great deal for both parties, both in terms of value for money and quality of service. The Manchester Working and Northwards relationship is a true partnership and together we have been able to introduce new initiatives, which have made a real difference to the customers' experience.

"Agreeing this contract extension ahead of time, enables both parties to continue to invest in the important job of delivering service excellence to the residents of North Manchester. We now look forward to working with Northwards to deliver even greater improvements and true value for money."

Larry Patrick, Director of Property Services, commented: "This extension builds on our existing strong relationship to further improve both service and value for money. It represents an excellent deal for Northwards tenants."