Mears wins £86m Manchester maintenance package

A repairs and maintenance contract covering the next 10 years has been signed for north Manchester’s council homes by Manchester City Council and its arm’s length housing management organisation, Northwards Housing.

This follows a four-stage tendering process, with four firms bidding, and covers repairs, empty property and servicing work to 13,500 homes in the north of the city. It will also include Mears carrying out new adaptation work to all Manchester City Council homes, in a contract that could be worth up to £86m.

The contract starts on 3 April 2017, with the initial stage running to April 2021. Mears is the majority owner of Northwards’ existing contractor, Manchester Working, in which it has an 80% stake.

Sue Abbott, chairman of the Northwards board, said: “Mears offers good value for money, with the pre-set price of each repair job decreasing by 3.01%. They’ve also agreed to fix this cost for four years, which is great at a time where funding for services can be uncertain.

“We look forward to building on the great relationship we already have and further improve our repairs service.”

As part of the new contract, Mears will offer weekday hours of 8am to 8pm and a Saturday morning service. Servicing costs will become fixed and there are new incentives and disincentives for the contractor to control spending.

Des Morris, managing director of Mears’ North West division, said: “We can now build on the solid foundations already established over the last 10 years through the Manchester Working joint venture to deliver excellent services, value for money and tenant satisfaction.”