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Janet McAlister, technical services director of Fyne Homes with James McEachran and Willie Livingstone both of Livingstone McEachran Ltd. |
FYNE Homes has awarded maintenance contracts worth £9.2m to 10 local firms as part of its Fyne Frameworks partner programme launched earlier this year.
Contacts have been awarded to 10 contractors in Argyll and Bute by the housing association; they will have the responsibility to deliver minor and major repairs work, gas servicing works, exterior painting on a five-year cycle as well as garden maintenance work as part of Fyne Homes Maintenance Framework Agreements.
The programme will improve the standard of housing available in Argyll and Bute and also give local firms the opportunity to expand their businesses and employ new apprentices over the course of the next four years.
The new programme is aimed at making Fyne Homes a more efficient organisation; reduce management costs and the remove the need for individual tendering. Willie Livingstone, director of Livingstone and McEachran Limited based in Campbeltown said: ‘Winning both the minor and major works contract as well as the gas servicing and repair contract has been a great boost for us. Over the course of the next four years we will be able to drive our business forward.
‘We have also been able to expand our team, taking on four new staff members providing more jobs for local people.
‘This has included one joiner, one apprentice joiner, one apprentice plumber as well as a new staff member to join our administration team. Employing local people is important to us and helps to keep the local economy thriving.
‘This has been made possible by Fyne Homes who recognise the skill and talent which so many locals firms have.’
Out of a budget of £7.6 million for major and minor repairs, Livingstone and McEachran won the £1.3 million contract for Kintyre and £120,000 of the £445,000 gas servicing and repair budget.
Donnie Gilles, of DK Gillies and Co based in Campbeltown, won a £580,000 contract for painting in Cowal, Mid Argyll and Kintyre, of which £130,000 is for painting in Kintyre.
He told The Courier: ‘I have worked on a number of painting projects with Fyne Homes over the course of the last six years and having secured another contract demonstrates their commitment to the local community and local businesses.
‘We hope to employ two new apprentices each year from the local surrounding area. I believe that it is important to give locals the opportunity to explore and develop their skills, which will also strengthen the local economy in return.
‘Securing this contract will also provide us with a degree of stability over the next four years, allowing us to plan for the future.’
Andrew Duncan won the Kintyre gardening contract worth £52,000. Janet McAlister, technical services director of Fyne Homes, said: ‘Fyne Homes is committed to ensuring that we provide affordable and good quality housing to meet the needs of the local population. To deliver these objectives and maintain a buoyant local economy we wanted to engage with businesses, which have a wealth of skill and talent.
‘We have an intensive four-year maintenance programme ahead us and it made sense to put a framework in place that brought together people and companies who share our ideals, and we are convinced that it will make us more efficient along with continuing to deliver a high quality maintenance service to our tenants.
‘We are delighted that so many local Argyll and Bute companies were successful. We were impressed by their ability to embrace new ways of working and their willingness to work in tandem with other firms who until now they would have seen as their rivals.’
