Nottingham Community Housing Association – Asbestos Surveying Contract

Value: £100,000 (per annum)

Nottingham Community Housing Association (NCHA) is one of the largest locally-based housing groups in the East Midlands, managing over 8,900 homes and housing more than 15,000 tenants in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland. NCHA employ nearly 1,100 staff, and have a commitment to training and apprenticeships with an annual turnover of £62 million and properties worth over £500 million. In 2013, NCHA celebrated its 40th anniversary. Nottingham Community Housing Association provides care and support across the East Midlands, supporting 1,689 people, their work covers mental health, learning disabilities, domestic violence, Asian elders, vulnerable young people, homelessness, teenage parents and older persons, whether they need a place to live or support in their own homes.

Nottingham Community Housing Association has commissioned surveys of its housing stock and communal areas in order to obtain good quality information on the presence and condition of asbestos containing materials (ACMs), which will ensure that NCHA meets all its current and future proposed duties with respect to asbestos. Armstrong York is appointed as the sole provider to undertake management, refurbishment and demolition surveys (as defined in HSG264 Asbestos: The survey guide and any future revision). This Contract is for asbestos survey works to residential properties, garages, void properties and communal areas (non-domestic areas). The work includes asbestos surveys, testing and analysis. Armstrong York is to provide sufficient resources for a call out service during normal working hours and outside normal working hours. Armstrong York are responsible for providing full individual survey reports, summary electronic survey data for uploading into NCHA’s register system together with providing and maintaining a remote hosted web accessible register system. Armstrong York are required to provide a 24 hour, 365 days per year, call out service for the duration of the commission. The services require remote advice,

the inspection, sampling and analysis of suspected ACM’s at any time, air testing/clearance certification at any time, and attendance upon site within 2 hours.
Other management services provided by Armstrong York to Nottingham Community Housing Association include:

• Management, Refurbishment and Demolition surveys
• A pull-off schedule of rates contract for asbestos consultancy
• Incident investigation services
• Bulk sampling and analysis of samples
• Emergency site attendance and 24 hour call out
• Asbestos awareness training
• Site risk assessments
• Analytical monitoring works in association with encapsulation, monitoring or removal.
• Providing ad-hoc advice on asbestos related issues.
• Dealing with emergency situations with regard to asbestos
• Attending progress meetings with the Client.
• Attending asbestos review meetings and training sessions as required with NCHA in order to review performance

The key account manager allocated to this contract is responsible for all access issues whilst maintaining the programme of works and minimising costs to Nottingham Community Housing Association. Armstrong York’s approach to pricing and cost management under all procured contracts is on an open book basis.

Innovation: Armstrong York and NCHA are committed to providing an excellent customer service which provides added value and value for money; we work in partnership with the association to increase customer satisfaction by:

• Achieving a fixed time slot for appointments selected by the customer
• Delivering a ‘right first time’ service in as many cases as possible
• Better on-line services for customers
• 24/7 reporting service
• More flexibility around appointment times
• Cutting out wasteful practice and concentrating only on activities that add value for the customer
• Providing resident friendly survey summary reports to enable residents to access information pertaining to their property