Manchester awards maintenance contract to Mears

Manchester City Council and its arm’s length housing management organisation, Northwards Housing, have awarded a repairs and maintenance contract worth up to £86 million to Mears.

The contract, which will include Mears carry out the repairs, empty property and servicing work to 13,500 homes in the north of the city, as well as new adaptation work to all Manchester City Council homes, follows a four-stage tendering process and strong competition between four firms.

Sue Abbott, chair of the Northwards board, said: “Mears offers good value for money, with the pre-set price of each repair job decreasing by 3.01 per cent. 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.”

Des Morris, Mears managing director for the northwest, added: “We are delighted to have been awarded the new contract. 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.”

The new contract starts on 3 April and will run initially until 2 April 2021. The plan is for it to continue to the full 10 years through two three-year extensions.