Description of works:

Provision of grounds maintenance service including sheltered accommodation, flats, general open spaces and 510 tenants gardens. Includes a housing mix of tenants and leaseholders.

Housing stock circa 14,000 dwellings. Land area across 220 sites includes 770,000 square metres of grass, of which 550,000 is cut and collect.

The work comprises of grass cutting, shrubbery and rose-bed maintenance, hedge cutting, tree surgery and maintenance, weed spraying/path sweeping and general grounds maintenance to approx 220 sites.

The service also includes the maintenance of 508 individual tenants’ gardens. This service is offered by Derby Homes to tenants who choose to pay an additional sum on their property rental. The specification work for this work differs slightly from that applied to general housing areas.

Background

Following the tender award and during the partnering team discussions, it became evident that DHL wanted a contractor to be flexible, innovative and to be able to deliver improvements in the service.

DHL had prepared a pricing schedule with various options and enhancements to the basic level of service, including enhancements to grass cutting with an option for grass collection to sheltered accommodation and flats. However, they had also specified 30 cuts per year (cut and let fly cuttings) on these areas.

Solution to the Problem

Through the post tender partnering discussions, we put forward a proposal to cut and collect a further 100,000 square metres of grass on sheltered and flat areas at the same cost as cut and let fly, by adjusting the frequency to 17 cuts per annum. This has significantly increased the quality of grass cutting and improved customer satisfaction levels.

Continual Improvement Benefits / Best Value to Customer:

Tender evaluated against specific criteria in relation to Best Value based on 30% price and 70% quality including 10% from interview and site visits to existing customer. The above examples brought continual improvement to the service whilst remaining within the customer’s budget.

Quote from our customer:

"Vale have been professional and flexible in their approach, very easy to work with and good with customers. A particular strength is that they have been able to provide enhancements to the specification in a well thought out and cost effective way, so our customers are now getting more than we had previously thought was affordable.” Matt Hands, Maintenance Manager Derby Homes Ltd

Matt Hands
 Derby Homes Ltd
Maintenance Manager
Matt.hands@derbyhomes.org
Floor 2,
South Point,
Cardinal Square,
10 Nottingham Road,
Derby, DE1 3 QT
01332 711065